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10 1963

COPYRIGHT ACT, 1963

PART I.

Preliminary and General.

Short title and commencement.

1. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Copyright Act, 1963.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister may by order appoint; and different days may be appointed for the purposes of different provisions of this Act, and, for the purposes of any provision of this Act whereby enactments are repealed, different days may be appointed for the operation of the repeal in relation to different enactments, including different enactments in the same Act.

Interpretation generally.

2. —(1) In this Act, except in so far as the context otherwise requires—

the Act of 1927” means the Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act, 1927 ;

adaptation” in relation to a literary, dramatic or musical work, has the meaning assigned to it by section 8 of this Act;

artistic work” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9 of this Act;

building” includes any structure;

cinematograph film” has the meaning assigned to it by section 18 of this Act;

construction” includes erection, and references to reconstruction shall be construed accordingly;

Controller” means the Controller of Industrial and Commercial Property appointed under the Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act, 1927 ;

dramatic work” includes a choreographic work or entertainment in dumb show if reduced to writing in the form in which the work or entertainment is to be presented, but does not include a cinematograph film, as distinct from a scenario or script for a cinematograph film;

drawing” includes any diagram, map, chart or plan;

engraving” includes any etching, lithograph, woodcut, print or similar work not being a photograph;

future copyright” and “prospective owner” have the meanings assigned to them by section 49 of this Act;

judicial proceeding” means a proceeding before any court, tribunal or person having by law power to hear, receive and examine evidence on oath;

literary work” includes any written table or compilation;

manuscript”, in relation to a work, means the original document embodying the work, whether written by hand or not;

the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

performance” includes delivery, in relation to lectures, addresses, speeches and sermons, and in general, subject to the provisions of subsection (5) of this section, includes any mode of visual or acoustic presentation, including any such presentation by the operation of wireless telegraph apparatus, or by the exhibition of a cinematograph film, or by the use of a record, or by any other means, and references to performing a work or an adaptation of a work shall be construed accordingly;

photograph” means any product of photography or of any process akin to photography, other than a part of a cinematograph film, and “author”, in relation to a photograph, means the person who, at the time when the photograph is taken, is the owner of the material on which it is taken;

qualified person” has the meaning assigned to it by section 7 of this Act;

Radio Éireann” means the broadcasting authority established by virtue of section 3 of the Broadcasting Authority Act, 1960 ;

record” means any disc, tape, perforated roll or other device in which sounds are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other instrument) of being automatically reproduced therefrom, and references to a record of a work or other subject-matter are references to a record (as herein defined) by means of which it can be performed;

reproduction”, in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, includes a reproduction in the form of a record or of a cinematograph film, and, in the case of an artistic work includes a version produced by converting the work into a three-dimensional form, or, if it is in three dimensions, by converting it into a two-dimensional form, and references to reproducing a work shall be construed accordingly;

sculpture” includes any cast or model made for purposes of sculpture;

sound recording” has the meaning assigned to it by section 17 of this Act;

sufficient acknowledgement” has the meaning assigned to it by section 12 of this Act;

television broadcast” and “sound broadcast” have the meanings assigned to them by section 19 of this Act;

wireless telegraphy apparatus” has the same meaning as “apparatus for wireless telegraphy” has in the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926 , as amended by the Broadcasting Authority Act, 1960 ;

work of joint authorship” has the meaning assigned to it by section 16 of this Act;

writing” includes any form of notation, whether by hand or by printing, typewriting or other process.

(2) References in this Act to broadcasting are references to broadcasting by wireless telegraphy (within the meaning of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926 , as amended by the Broadcasting Authority Act, 1960 ) whether by way of sound broadcasting or by television.

(3) References in this Act to the transmission of a work or other subject-matter to subscribers to a diffusion service are references to the transmission thereof in the course of a service of distributing broadcast programmes, or other programmes (whether provided by the person operating the service or other persons), over wires, or other paths provided by a material substance, to the premises of subscribers to the service; and for the purposes of this Act where a work or other subject-matter is so transmitted—

(a) the person operating the service (that is to say, the person who, in the agreements with the subscribers to the service, undertakes to provide them with the service, whether he is the person who transmits the programmes or not) shall be taken to be the person causing the work or other subject-matter to be so transmitted, and

(b) no person, other than the person operating the service, shall be taken to be causing it to be so transmitted, notwithstanding that he provides any facilities for the transmission of the programmes:

Provided that, for the purposes of this subsection, and of references to which this subsection applies, no account shall be taken of a service of distributing broadcast or other programmes, where the service is only incidental to a business of keeping or letting premises where persons reside or sleep, and is operated as part of the amenities provided exclusively or mainly for residents or inmates therein.

(4) References in this Act to the doing of any act by the reception of a television broadcast or sound broadcast made by Radio Éireann are references to the doing of that act by means of receiving the broadcast either—

(a) from the transmission whereby the broadcast is made by Radio Éireann, or

(b) from a transmission made by Radio Éireann otherwise than by way of broadcasting, but simultaneously with the transmission mentioned in the preceding paragraph,

whether (in either case) the reception of the broadcast is directly from the transmission in question or from a re-transmission thereof made by any person from any place, whether in the State or elsewhere; and in this subsection “re-transmission” means any retransmission whether over paths provided by a material substance or not, including any re-transmission made by making use of any record, print, negative, tape or other article on which the broadcast in question has been recorded.

(5) For the purposes of this Act, broadcasting, or the causing of a work or other subject-matter to be transmitted to subscribers to a diffusion service, shall not be taken to constitute performance, or to constitute causing visual images or sounds to be seen or heard; and where visual images or sounds are displayed or emitted by any receiving apparatus, to which they are conveyed by the transmission of electromagnetic signals (whether over paths provided by a material substance or not)—

(a) the operation of any apparatus whereby the signals are transmitted, directly or indirectly, to the receiving apparatus shall not be taken to constitute performance or to constitute causing the visual images or sounds to be seen or heard; but

(b) in so far as the display or emission of the images or sounds constitutes a performance, or causes them to be seen or heard, the performance, or the causing of the images to be seen or heard, as the case may be, shall be taken to be effected by the operation of the receiving apparatus.

(6) (a) Without prejudice to the last preceding subsection, where a work or an adaptation of a work is performed, or visual images or sounds are caused to be seen or heard, by the operation of any apparatus to which this subsection applies, being apparatus provided by or with the consent of the occupier of the premises where the apparatus is situated, the occupier of those premises shall, for the purposes of this Act, be taken to be the person giving the performance, or causing the images or sounds to be seen or heard, whether he is the person operating the apparatus or not.

(b) This subsection applies to any such receiving apparatus as is mentioned in the last preceding subsection, and to any apparatus for reproducing sounds by the use of a record.

(7) Except in so far as the context otherwise requires, any reference in this Act to an enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended or extended by or under any other enactment.

Supplementary provisions as to interpretation.

3. —(1) Except in so far as the context otherwise requires, any reference in this Act to the doing of an act in relation to a work or other subject-matter shall be taken to include a reference to the doing of that act in relation to a substantial part thereof, and any reference to a reproduction, adaptation or copy of a work, or a record embodying a sound recording, shall be taken to include a reference to a reproduction, adaptation or copy of a substantial part of the work, or a record embodying a substantial part of the sound recording, as the case may be:

Provided that, for the purposes of the following provisions of this Act, namely, subsections (1) and (2) of section 8, subsections (2) and (3) of section 9, subsections (2) and (3) of section 44, section 50, and subsections (3) to (5) of section 51, this subsection shall not affect the construction of any reference to the publication, or absence of publication, of a work.

(2) With regard to publication, the provisions of this subsection shall have effect for the purposes of this Act, that is to say—

(a) the performance, or the issue of records, of a literary, dramatic or musical work, the exhibition of an artistic work, the construction of a work of architecture, and the issue of photographs or engravings of a work of architecture or of a sculpture, do not constitute publication of the work;

(b) except in so far as it may constitute an infringement of copyright, or a contravention of any restriction imposed by section 54 of this Act, a publication which is merely colourable, and not intended to satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public shall be disregarded;

(c) subject to the preceding paragraphs of this subsection, a literary, dramatic or musical work, or an edition of such a work, or an artistic work, shall be taken to have been published if, but only if, reproductions of the work or edition have been issued to the public;

(d) a publication in the State, or outside the State, shall not be treated as being other than the first publication by reason only of an earlier publication elsewhere, if the two publications took place within a period of not more than thirty days;

and in determining for the purposes of paragraph (c) of this subsection, whether reproductions of a work have been issued to the public, subsection (1) of this section shall not apply.

(3) In determining for the purposes of any provision of this Act—

(a) whether a work or other subject-matter has been published, or

(b) whether a publication of a work or other subject-matter was the first publication thereof, or

(c) whether a work or other subject-matter was published or otherwise dealt with in the lifetime of a person,

no account shall be taken of any unauthorised publication or of the doing of any other unauthorised act; and a publication or other act shall for the purposes of this subsection be taken to have been unauthorised—

(i) if copyright subsisted in the work or other subject-matter and the act in question was done otherwise than by, or with the licence of, the owner of the copyright, or

(ii) if copyright did not subsist in the work or subject-matter, and the act in question was done otherwise than by, or with the licence of, the author (or, in the case of a sound recording or a cinematograph film, or an edition of a literary, dramatic or musical work, the maker or publisher, as the case may be) or persons lawfully claiming under him:

so, however, that nothing in this subsection shall affect any provisions of this Act as to the acts restricted by any copyright or as to acts constituting infringements of copyrights, or any provisions of section 54 of this Act.

(4) References in this Act to the time at which, or the period during which, a literary, dramatic or musical work was made are references to the time or period at or during which it was first reduced to writing or some other material form.

(5) In the case of any copyright to which (whether in consequence of a partial assignment or otherwise) different persons are entitled in respect of the application of the copyright—

(a) to the doing of different acts or classes of acts, or

(b) to the doing of one or more acts or classes of acts in different countries or at different times,

the owner of the copyright, for any purpose of this Act, shall be taken to be the person who is entitled to the copyright in respect of its application to the doing of the particular act or class of acts, or, as the case may be, to the doing thereof in the particular country or at the particular time, which is relevant to the purpose in question; and in relation to any future copyright to which different persons are prospectively entitled, references in this Act to the prospective owner shall be construed accordingly.

(6) Without prejudice to the generality of the last preceding subsection of this section, where under any provision of this Act a question arises whether an article of any description has been imported or sold, or otherwise dealt with, without the licence of the owner of any copyright, the owner of the copyright, for the purpose of determining that question, shall be taken to be the person entitled to the copyright in respect of its application to the making of articles of that description in the country into which the article was imported, or, as the case may be, in which it was sold or otherwise dealt with.

(7) Where the doing of anything is authorised by the grantee of a licence, or a person deriving title from the grantee, and it is within the terms (including any implied terms) of the licence for him to authorise it, it shall for the purposes of this Act be taken to be done with the licence of the grantor and of every other person (if any) upon whom the licence is binding.

(8) References in this Act to deriving title are references to deriving title either directly or indirectly.

(9) Where, in the case of copyright of any description—

(a) provisions contained in this Act specify certain acts as being restricted by the copyright, or as constituting infringements thereof, and

(b) other provisions of this Act specify certain acts as not constituting infringements of the copyright,

the omission or exclusion of any matter from the latter provisions shall not be taken to extend the operation of the former provisions.

(10) References in this Act to copyright include references to copyright under the Act of 1927.

(11) References in the Act of 1927 to that Act shall, in so far as they are or include references to Part VI or VII of that Act, be deemed to include references to this Act.

Orders, rules and regulations.

4. —(1) Where a power to make orders, rules or regulations is conferred by any provision of this Act, such orders, rules or regulations may be made either as respects all, or as respects any one or more, of the matters to which the provision relates; and different provisions may be made by any such orders, rules or regulations as respects different classes of cases to which the orders, rules or regulations apply.

(2) Every order, rule or regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and if a resolution annulling the order, rule or regulation is passed by either House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the order, rule or regulation is laid before it, the order, rule or regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

Expenses.

5. —The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Transitional provisions and repeals.

6. —(1) The transitional provisions contained in the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect for the purposes of this Act.

(2) Subject to the said transitional provisions, the enactments mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

(3) The repeal of section 163 of the Act of 1927 shall not enable any action which was barred before the commencement of this section to be brought.