Chapter 18

Qualification for Copyright Protection

182. —(1) Copyright shall not subsist in a work unless the qualification requirements of this Chapter are satisfied in relation to—

(a) the author in section 183 ,

(b) the country, territory, state or area in which the work was first lawfully made available to the public in section 184 ,

(c) in the case of a broadcast or a cable programme, the country, territory, state or area from which the broadcast was made or from which the programme was sent in section 186 .

(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply in relation to the Government or the Oireachtas or to the copyright of prescribed international organisations.

(3) Where the qualification requirements specified in this Chapter or in section 191 , 193 or 196 are satisfied on one occasion in relation to a work, the copyright in the work shall not cease to subsist by reason of any subsequent event.

183. —(1) A work shall qualify for copyright protection where the author was at the material time a qualifying person.

(2) For the purposes of this Part, a qualifying person shall be—

(a) an Irish citizen;

(b) a citizen or subject of, or an individual domiciled or ordinarily resident in the State, or in any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provisions of this Part extend;

(c) a body incorporated under the law of the State or of any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provisions of this Part extend;

(d) a partnership or unincorporated body formed under the law of the State or of any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provisions of this Part extend; or

(e) any other body in the State or of any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provisions of this Part extend.

(3) Where provision is made by order under section 188 , a work shall also qualify for copyright protection where at the material time the author was—

(a) a citizen or subject of, or an individual domiciled or ordinarily resident in a country, territory, state or area to which the order relates;

(b) a body incorporated under the law of a country, territory, state or area to which the order relates;

(c) a partnership or unincorporated body formed under the law of any country, territory, state or area to which the order relates; or

(d) any other body in any country, territory, state or area to which the order relates.

(4) Subject to subsection (5), a work of joint authorship shall qualify for copyright protection where at the material time any of the authors satisfies the requirements specified in subsection (1), (2) or (3).

(5) Where a work of joint authorship qualifies for copyright protection only under this section, only those authors who satisfy those requirements shall be taken into account for the purposes of—

(a) section 23 (1)(a) (first ownership of copyright; entitlement of author or author's employer);

(b) section 24 (duration of copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or an original database); and

(c) section 88 (anonymous and pseudonymous works; acts permitted), with reference to section 2 (definition of “anonymous work” and definition of “pseudonymous work”), section 2 (7) and (8) (deemer of authorship to be known), and section 33 (expiry of copyright).

(6) The material time in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or an original database, shall be—

(a) in the case of a work which has not been lawfully made available to the public, when the work was made or, where the making of the work extended over a period, a substantial part of that period; or

(b) in the case of a work which has been lawfully made available to the public, when the work was first lawfully made available to the public or, where the author had died before that time, immediately before his or her death.

(7) The material time in relation to other descriptions of work shall be as follows:

(a) in the case of sound recording or film, when the sound recording or film was made;

(b) in the case of a broadcast, when the broadcast was made;

(c) in the case of a cable programme, when the programme was first lawfully included in a cable programme service;

(d) in the case of the typographical arrangement of a published edition, when the edition was first lawfully made available to the public.

184. —(1) A literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, sound recording, film, typographical arrangement of a published edition or an original database, shall qualify for copyright protection where it is first lawfully made available to the public—

(a) in the State; or

(b) in any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provision of this Part extends.

(2) For the purposes of this section, lawfully making available to the public a work in one country, territory, state or area shall be deemed to be the first lawful making available to the public of the work even where the work is simultaneously lawfully made available to the public elsewhere; and for this purpose, lawfully making available to the public of a work elsewhere within the previous 30 days shall be deemed to be simultaneous.

185. —For the purposes of this Part—

(a) acts undertaken in, or, under or over—

(i) the waters in the portion of the sea which comprises the territorial seas of the State,

(ii) the waters in all areas of the sea to which the internal or inland waters of the State are extended by section 5 of the Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 1959 , and

(iii) the waters in any area which is for the time being a designated area within the meaning of section 1 of the Continental Shelf Act, 1968 ,

and

(b) acts undertaken on an Irish ship, aircraft or hovercraft registered under the laws of the State,

shall be deemed to have been undertaken in the State.

186. —A broadcast shall qualify for copyright protection where it is lawfully made from, and a cable programme shall qualify for copyright protection where it is first sent from a place—

(a) in the State, or

(b) in any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provisions of this Part extend.

187. —The Government shall not exercise the power to make regulations provided for by section 190 , in relation to a country, territory, state or area in contravention of obligations entered into under any bilateral or multilateral copyright or related rights convention to which the State is a party or of any obligations incurred by the State pursuant to the EEA Agreement.

188. —(1) The Government may make an order to extend the provisions of this Part and, in particular, the provisions as to qualification of works for copyright protection in section 183 , 184 and 186, to any convention country, territory, state or area.

(2) The effect of the extension of copyright protection specified in subsection (1), may, where so stated in the Third Schedule, apply to a specified part or parts of the international multilateral agreement, treaty or convention in question.

(3) The Government may, by order, add to or delete from the list of agreements, international multilateral agreements, treaties or conventions contained in the Third Schedule, or specify such part or parts of the said multilateral agreements, treaties or conventions to which the extension of protection shall apply in accordance with the terms of subsection (2), having regard to the obligations of the State under relevant multilateral agreements, treaties and conventions.

(4) The effect of the extension of the provisions of sections 183, 184 and 186 relating to qualification of works for copyright protection under the terms of this section shall be that works qualifying for copyright protection by reference to their authors or geographical provenance under the equivalent provisions of the law of a country, territory, state or area party to an agreement, treaty or convention named in the Third Schedule shall qualify for copyright protection under Irish law, to the same degree as if they (those works) had qualified for such protection directly under sections 183, 184 and 186.

(5) For the purposes of this section, “convention country, territory, state or area” means a convention country, territory, state or area which is a party to a multilateral agreement, treaty or convention relating to copyright to which the State is also a party, and which is specified in the Third Schedule.

189. —(1) The Government may by order make provision for applying in relation to a country, territory, state or area, other than a convention country, territory, state or area within the meaning of section 188 (5), all or any of the provisions of this Part specified in the order, so as to secure that those provisions apply in relation to—

(a) individuals who are citizens or subjects of, or who are domiciled or ordinarily resident in, that country, territory, state or area as they apply to persons who are domiciled or ordinarily resident in the State,

(b) bodies incorporated under the law of that country, territory, state or area as they apply in relation to bodies incorporated under the law of the State,

(c) partnerships or unincorporated bodies formed under the law of that country, territory, state or area as they apply in relation to partnerships or unincorporated bodies formed under the law of the State,

(d) any other bodies in that country, territory, state or area as they apply in relation to such bodies in the State,

(e) literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, sound recordings, films, typographical arrangement of a published edition or original databases first made available to the public in that country, territory, state or area as they apply in relation to such works first made available to the public in the State, or

(f) broadcasts made from or cable programmes sent from that country, territory, state or area as they apply in relation to broadcasts made from or cable programmes sent from the State.

(2) An order made under this section may make provision for all or any of the matters referred to in subsection (1) and may—

(a) apply any provision of this Part subject to such exceptions and modifications as are specified in the order, and

(b) direct that any provisions of this Part apply either generally or in relation to such classes of works, or other classes of case, as are specified in the order.

(3) The Government shall not make an order under this section in relation to a country, territory, state or area unless satisfied that provision has been or will be made under the law of that country, territory, state or area, in respect of the class of works to which the order relates, giving adequate protection to the owners of copyright under this Part.

(4) The Government may by order revoke or amend any order made under this section, including an order under this subsection.

190. —(1) Where the protection of Irish copyright law has been extended to a country, territory, state or area under the provisions of section 189 , and it appears to the Government that Irish works or one or more classes of those works are not adequately protected in that country, territory, state or area, the Government may by order restrict the rights conferred by this Part in relation to works of authors connected with that country, territory, state or area.

(2) In an order made under subsection (1), the Government shall designate the country, territory, state or area concerned and provide that, for the purposes specified in that order, a work shall not qualify for copyright protection after the date specified in the order where that work is made at a time when the author is—

(a) a citizen or subject of that country, territory, state or area (who is not at the same time domiciled or ordinarily resident in the State),

(b) a body incorporated under the law of that country, territory, state or area,

(c) a partnership or unincorporated body formed under the law of that country, territory, state or area, or

(d) any other body of that country, territory, state or area,

and the order may make such provision for all the purposes of this Part or for such purposes as are specified in that order, and either generally or in relation to such class or classes of cases as are specified in that order, having regard to the nature and extent of the deficiency of protection referred to in subsection (1).

(3) In this section “Irish works” means works of which the author was at the material time within the meaning of section 183 .