Ownership of Copyright
COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS ACT, 2000 |
|
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS: | |
| PART I
Preliminary and General |
|
Short title and commencement. |
1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000. |
| (2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may be order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose appoint, and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions of this Act. | |
| (3) An order under subsection (2) may, in respect of the repeals or revocations effected by section 10 of the enactments mentioned in the Second Schedule, fix different days for the repeal or revocation of different enactments or for the repeal or revocation for different purposes of any enactment. | |
Interpretation. |
2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— |
| “Act of 1927” means the Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act, 1927; | |
| “anonymous work” means a work where the identity of the author is unknown or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, where the identity of the authors is unknown; | |
| “appropriate court” means— | |
| (a) the District Court, where the damages or the value of the other relief sought in any action to which the application relates is not liable to exceed such sum as stands specified by an enactment to be the jurisdiction of the District Court for actions in contract or tort, | |
| (b) the Circuit Court, where the damages or the value of the other relief sought in any action to which the application relates is not liable to exceed such sum as stands specified by an enactment to be the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court for actions in contract or tort, and | |
| (c) in any other case, the High Court; | |
| “artistic work” includes a work of any of the following descriptions, irrespective of their artistic quality— | |
| (a) photographs, paintings, drawings, diagrams, maps, charts, plans, engravings, etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, prints or similar works, collages or sculptures (including any cast or model made for the purposes of a sculpture), | |
| (b) works of architecture, being either buildings or models for buildings, and | |
| (c) works of artistic craftsmanship; | |
| “author” has the meaning assigned to it by section 21; |
| “authorised broadcaster” means Radio Telefís Éireann, Seirbhísí Theilifís na Gaeilge Teoranta or a person with whom the Independent Radio and Television Commission has entered into a contract for the provision of broadcasting services under the Radio and Television Act, 1988, and is licensed under that Act to provide those services; |
| “authorised cable programme service provider” means the provider of any cable programme service other than a cable programme service provided unlawfully; |
| “broadcast” means a transmission by wireless means, including by terrestrial or satellite means, for direct public reception or for presentation to members of the public of sounds, images or data or any combination of sounds, images or data, or the representations thereof, but does not include MMDS service; ‘ broadcast ’ means a transmission by wireless means, including by terrestrial or satellite means, whether digital or analogue, for direct public reception or for presentation to members of the public of sounds, images or data or any combination of sounds, images or data, or the representations thereof, but does not include transmission by means of MMDS or digital terrestrial retransmission;1 |
| ‘broadcast’ means an electronic transmission of sounds, images or data, or any combination or representation thereof, for direct public reception or for presentation to members of the public;2 |
| ‘broadcasting organisation’ means – |
| (a) in the State, an authorised broadcaster, or |
| (b) in another Member State, a broadcasting organisation for the purposes of Directive (EU) 2019/789 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 20193; |
| “building” includes any structure; |
| “cable programme” means any item included in a cable programme service; |
| “cable programme service” means a service, including MMDS including MMDS and digital terrestrial retransmission4, which
consists wholly or mainly of sending sounds, images or data or any combination of sounds, images or data, or the |
1 Amended by the Broadcasting Act 2009
2 Amended by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
3 Inserted by European Union (Copyright and Related Rights Applicable to Certain Online Transmissions and Retransmissions) Regulations 2022
4 Amended by the Broadcasting Act 2009
| representations thereof, by means of a telecommunications system— |
| (a) for reception at 2 or more places (whether for simultaneous reception or at different times in response to requests by different users), or |
| (b) for presentation to members of the public, |
| but shall not include: |
| (i) a service or part of a service of which it is an essential feature that while sounds, images or data or any combination of sounds, images or data, or the representations thereof, are being conveyed by the person providing the service, there may be sent from each place of reception, by means of the same system or, as the case may be, the same part of it, data (other than signals sent for the operation or control of the service) for reception by the person providing the service or other persons receiving the service; |
| (ii) a service operated for the purposes of a business, trade or profession where— |
| (I) no person except that person carrying on the business, trade or profession is concerned in the control of the apparatus comprised in the system, |
| (II) sounds, images or data or any combination of sounds, images or data, or the representations thereof, are conveyed by the system exclusively for the purposes of the internal management of that business, trade or profession and not for the purpose of rendering a service or providing amenities for others, and |
| (III) the system is not connected to any other telecommunications system; |
| (iii) a service operated by an individual where— |
| (I) all the apparatus comprised in the system is under his or her control, |
| (II) sounds, images or data or any combination of sounds, images or data, or the representations thereof, conveyed by the system are conveyed solely for his or her private and domestic use by that individual, and |
| (III) the system is not connected to any other telecommunications system; |
| (iv) services, other than services operated as part of the amenities provided for residents or occupants of premises operated as a business, trade or profession, where— |
| (I) all the apparatus comprised in the system is situated in, or connects, premises which are in single occupation, and |
| (II) the system is not connected to any other telecommunications system; |
| (v) services which are, or to the extent that they are, operated for persons providing broadcasting or cable programme service or providing programmes for such services; |
| “computer-generated”, in relation to a work, means that the work is generated by computer in circumstances where the author of the work is not an individual; |
| “computer program” means a program which is original in that it is the author’s own intellectual creation and includes any design materials used for the preparation of the program; |
| “Controller” means the Controller of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks; ‘Controller’ means the Controller of Intellectual Property;5 |
| ‘collective management organisation’ has the same meaning as it has in the European Union (Collective Rights Management) (Directive 2014/26/EU) Regulations 2016 (SI. No. 156 of 2016);6 |
| “copyright work” means a work in which copyright subsists; |
| ‘cultural heritage institution’ has the meaning assigned to it in the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market) Regulations 2021 (S.I. No. 567 of 2021);6 |
| “database” means a collection of independent works, data or other materials, arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by any means but excludes computer programs used in the making or operation of a database; |
5 Amended by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
6 Inserted by European Union (Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market) Regulations 2021
| ‘digital terrestrial retransmission’ means the reception and immediate retransmission on an encrypted basis without alteration by means of a multiplex of a broadcast or a cable programme initially transmitted from another Member State of the EEA;7 |
| “disability” has the same meaning as in section 48 of the Statute of Limitations, 1957 ; ‘disability’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 2 of the Disability Act 2005;8 |
| “dramatic work” includes a choreographic work or a work of mime; |
| ‘education’ means instruction, lectures, study, research, teaching or training either in an educational establishment or by any person acting under the authority of an educational establishment, and includes all activities necessary or expedient or ancillary to such a programme, and ‘educational purposes’ shall be construed accordingly;9 |
| “educational establishment” means— |
| (a) any school, |
| (b) any university to which the Universities Act, 1997, applies, applies, and10, |
| (ba) any relevant provider within the meaning of section 2 of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012, and11 |
| (c) any other educational establishment prescribed by the Minister under section 55; |
| “EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17 March 1993 and as amended from time to time;
‘electronic transmission’ means a specified transmission through the Internet, a transmission by wireless means and a transmission prescribed for the purposes of this definition, but does not include—
(a) a transmission by means of MMDS, or |
7 Inserted by the Broadcasting Act 2009
8 Amended by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
9 Inserted by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
10 Amended by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
(b) a digital terrestrial retransmission;12
“enactment” means an Act of the Oireachtas or an instrument made thereunder;
‘excluded data information’, means—
- a computer program (whether in whole or in part), or
- a program source code of a website;13
“film” means a fixation on any medium from which a moving image may, by any means, be produced, perceived or communicated through a device;
“fixation” means the embodiment of sounds or images or any combination of sounds or images, or the representations thereof, from which they can be perceived, reproduced or communicated through a device;
“general licence” means a licence granted by a licensing body that includes all works of the description to which it applies;
‘intellectual property claim’ means—
- any proceedings instituted, application or reference made, or appeal lodged, under the Patents Act 1992 other than an application under section 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, 59,
74, 86, 91, 96, 108, 123 or 124 of that Act,
- any proceedings instituted, application or reference made, or appeal lodged, under the Trade Marks Act 1996 other than an application under section 25, 51, 52, 57, 65, 67, 72, 77,
78, 79, 85(5), 88 or 97 of that Act, or under paragraph 14(3) of the Second Schedule to that Act in so far as that paragraph relates to an application under section 51 of that Act,
- any proceedings instituted, application or reference made, or appeal lodged, under this Act other than an application under section 133, 143, 170, 256, 257, 261, 299B,
366 or 367, or
- any proceedings instituted, application or reference made, or appeal lodged, under the Industrial Designs Act 2001 other than an application under section 33, 34, 35, 62, 70, 81,
84 or 86 of that Act;14
“judicial proceeding” includes proceedings before any court or tribunal which has power to hear, receive and examine
12 Inserted by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
13 Inserted by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
| evidence on oath or otherwise and has authority to decide any matter affecting the legal rights or liabilities of a person; |
| “licensing body” means a body referred to in section 38 , 149 ,
265 or 340 , as the case may be; |
| “literary work” means a work, including a computer program, but does not include a dramatic or musical work or an original database, which is written, spoken or sung; |
| “marketed” means sold, hired rented or lent, or offered or exposed for sale, hire, rental or loan, or otherwise distributed, and references to “marketing” shall be construed accordingly; |
| “Member State of the EEA” means a state which is a contracting state to the EEA Agreement; |
| “Minister” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment; |
| “MMDS” means a Multipoint Microwave Distribution System;
‘multiplex’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 129 of the Broadcasting Act 2009;15 |
| “musical work” means a work consisting of music, but does not include any words, or action, intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music; |
| ‘out-of-commerce work’ means a work where it can be presumed in good faith that the whole work or other subject matter is not available to the public through customary channels of commerce, after a reasonable effort has been made to determine whether it is available to the public;16 |
| “original database” means a database in any form which by reason of the selection or arrangement of its contents constitutes the original intellectual creation of the author; |
| “parliamentary proceeding” includes proceedings of either or both of the Houses of the Oireachtas or committees established by either or both of the Houses of the Oireachtas or proceedings of the European Parliament or committees established by the European Parliament; |
| “photograph” means a recording of light, or any other radiation on any medium on which an image is produced, or from which an image may by any means be produced and which is not part of a film; |
15 Inserted by the Broadcasting Act2009
16 Inserted by European Union (Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market) Regulations 2021
| “premises” means any building or place, including any land, vehicle, vessel, moveable structure, trailer, hovercraft or aircraft; |
| “prescribe” means prescribe by regulations and cognate words shall be construed accordingly; |
| “producer”, in relation to a film or sound recording, means the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the making of the film or sound recording, as the case may be, are undertaken; |
| “protection-defeating device” includes any device, function or product, or component incorporated into a device, function or product, the primary purpose or effect of which is to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate or otherwise circumvent, without authority, any rights protection measure or which is promoted, advertised or marketed for the purpose of circumvention of any rights protection measure, or which has only a limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent any rights protection measure17; |
| “pseudonymous work” means a work where the pseudonym adopted by the author or, in the case of a work of joint authorship the authors, does not reveal the identity of the author or authors and the identity of the author or authors is unknown; |
| “published edition”, in relation to the copyright in the typographical arrangement of a published edition, means a published edition of the whole or any part of one or more literary, dramatic or musical works or original databases; |
| “repeat broadcast” means a repeat of a broadcast which has been previously transmitted; |
| “repeat cable programme” means a repeat of a cable programme which has been previously included in a cable programme service; |
| “reprographic process” means a process— |
| (a) for making facsimile copies, or |
| (b) involving the use of an appliance for making multiple copies, |
| and includes, in relation to a work held in electronic form, any copying by electronic means, but does not include the making of a film or sound recording; |
| ‘rights identifying information’, in relation to a work, means data information (other than excluded data information) about |
17 Inserted by the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2004
| the work, including digital data (whether or not it is incorporated within the work or is otherwise associated with it) that provides information about—
(a) the authorship, condition, content, context, origin, ownership, provenance, quality or structure of the work,
(b) rights pertaining to or associated with the work, or
(c) matters similar to any matter which falls within paragraph (a) or (b);18 |
| “rights protection measure” means any process, treatment, mechanism or system which is designed to prevent or inhibit the unauthorised exercise of any of the rights conferred by this Act; |
| “sound recording” means a fixation of sounds, or of the representations thereof, from which the sounds are capable of being reproduced, regardless of the medium on which the recording is made, or the method by which the sounds are reproduced; |
| ‘specified transmission through the Internet’ means—
(a) a transmission taking place simultaneously through the Internet and by other means, (b) a concurrent transmission of a live event, or (c) a transmission of recorded moving images or sounds, or both, forming part of a programme service offered by the person responsible for making the transmission, being a service in which programmes are transmitted at scheduled times determined by that person;19 |
| “statutory inquiry” means an inquiry held, or investigation conducted, pursuant to a duty imposed or power conferred by an enactment; |
| “statutory register” means a register maintained pursuant to a statutory requirement; |
| “statutory requirement” means a requirement imposed by an enactment; |
| “sufficient acknowledgement” has the meaning assigned to it by section 51; |
18 Inserted by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
19 Inserted by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
| “telecommunications system” means a system for conveying sounds, data or information or any combination of sounds, images or information, or the representations thereof, by means of a wire, beam or any other conducting device through which electronically generated programme-carrying signals are guided over a distance; |
| “work” means a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, sound recording, film, broadcast, cable programme, typographical arrangement of a published edition or an original database and includes a computer program except in Part II, Chapter 7 where “work” means “literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or film”; |
| “work of joint authorship” has the meaning assigned to it by
section 22; |
| “writing” includes any form of notation or code whether by hand or otherwise and regardless of the method by which, or medium in or on which, it is recorded, and references to “written” shall be construed accordingly. |
| (2) A reference in this Act to the reception of a broadcast shall include the reception of a broadcast relayed by means of a telecommunications system. |
| (3) A reference in this Act to a prescribed archive shall include references to a prescribed museum. |
| (4) A reference in this Act to an archive shall include references to a museum and a reference in this Act to an archivist shall include references to a curator. |
| (5) A reference in this Act to a librarian or archivist shall include references to a person acting on his or her behalf. |
| (6) A computer program used in the making or operation of databases shall not be regarded as a database. |
| (7) The author of a work shall be deemed to be known where it is possible for a person, without previous knowledge of the facts, to ascertain the identity of the author of the work by reasonable enquiry. |
| (8) The authors of a work of joint authorship shall be deemed to be known where it is possible for a person, without previous knowledge of the facts, to ascertain the identity of one or more of the authors of the work by reasonable enquiry. |
| (9) References in this Act to a permanent collection shall include a collection of works or sound recordings in the possession of a library or archive that have been loaned to that library or archive for an indefinite period. |
| (10) Where an act which would otherwise infringe any of the rights conferred by this Act is permitted under this Act it is irrelevant whether or not there exists any term or condition in an agreement which purports to prohibit or restrict that act. | |
| (11) A reference in this Act to the copyright owner or the rightsowner shall include a reference to a person designated by the copyright owner or the rightsowner to act on his or her behalf in infringement proceedings. | |
| (12) (a) A reference in this Act to a Part, Chapter, Division, section or Schedule is a reference to a Part, Chapter, Division or section of, or Schedule to, this Act unless it is indicated that a reference to some other Act is intended. | |
| (b) A reference in this Act to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is to the subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended. | |
| (c) A reference in this Act to any other enactment shall, except where the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by or under any other enactment including this Act. | |
| 2A. The definition of ‘broadcast’ shall not be construed to prejudice the exclusive right under this Act of a person to make a work available by means of a broadcast of the work.20 | |
Construction of references to rights owner. |
3.—(1) In the case of a right conferred by this Act to which different persons are entitled (whether in consequence of a partial assignment of such right or otherwise) in respect of the application of the right— |
| (a) to undertake different acts or classes of acts restricted by that right, or | |
| (b) to undertake one or more acts or classes of acts restricted by that right in different countries, territories, states or areas, or at different times, | |
| the rightsowner shall be deemed to be the person who is entitled to the right in respect of its application to the undertaking of the act or class of acts restricted by the right, or, as the case may be, to the undertaking of the act or class of acts restricted by the right in the particular country, territory, state |
20 Inserted by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
| or area or at the particular time, which is relevant to the purpose concerned. | |
| (2) In relation to a future right to which different persons are prospectively entitled, references in this Act to the prospective owner shall be construed accordingly. | |
| (3) Where a right conferred by this Act (or any aspect of such right) is owned by more than one person jointly, references in this Act to the rightsowner are to all the owners, and any requirement of the licence of the rightsowner requires the licence of all of the owners. | |
| Construction of references to copyright. | 4.—(1) References in this Act to copyright shall include references to copyright under any previous enactment conferring copyright. |
| (2) References in the Act of 1927 to Part VI or VII of that Act shall be deemed to include references to this Act. | |
| Encrypted broadcasts. | 5.—A broadcast that is encrypted shall be regarded as being broadcast for lawful direct public reception where the means required for decoding the signals for those broadcasts have been made available by, or with the authority of, the person making the broadcast. |
| Making and protection of broadcasts. | 6.—(1) Subject to subsection (3), a reference in this Act to the person making a broadcast, broadcasting a work, or including a work in a broadcast shall be construed as a reference— |
| (a) to the person transmitting the programme, where he or she has responsibility to any extent for its contents, and | |
| (b) to any person providing the programme who makes the arrangements necessary for its transmission with the person transmitting that programme, | |
| and references to a programme, in the context of broadcasting, shall be construed as references to any item included in the broadcast. | |
| (2) Subject to subsection (3), the place from which a broadcast is made is the place where, under the control and responsibility of the person making the broadcast, the programme-carrying signals are introduced into an uninterrupted chain of communication including, in the case of a satellite transmission, the chain leading to the satellite and down towards the earth. | |
| (3) Where the place from which a broadcast by way of satellite transmission is made is located in a country, territory, state or area other than a Member State of the EEA and the law |
| of that country, territory, state or area fails to provide, at least, the following level of protection: | |
| (a) exclusive rights in relation to broadcasting equivalent to those conferred by section 37 ; | |
| (b) a right in relation to live broadcasting equivalent to that conferred on a performer by section 204 ; and | |
| (c) a right for authors of sound recordings and performers to share in a single equitable remuneration in respect of the broadcasting of sound recordings, | |
| then, the following provisions shall apply: | |
| (i) where the place from which the programme-carrying signals are transmitted to the satellite (in this Act that place is referred to as the “uplink station”) is located in a Member State of the EEA— | |
| (I) that uplink station shall be treated as the place from which the broadcast is made, and | |
| (II) the person operating the uplink station shall be treated as the person making the broadcast; | |
| or | |
| (ii) where the uplink station is not located in a Member State of the EEA but a person who is established in a Member State of the EEA has commissioned the making of the broadcast— | |
| (I) the place in which that person has his or her principal establishment in a Member State of the EEA shall be treated as the place from which the broadcast is made, and | |
| (II) that person shall be treated as the person making the broadcast. | |
|
Ancillary online services |
6A. (1) An ancillary online service provided by wire or wireless means that contains works, as well as the acts of reproduction of such works which are necessary for the provision of, the access to or the use of the ancillary online service, shall be deemed to occur solely in the Member State in which the broadcasting organisation has its principal establishment for the purposes of exercising the copyright and related rights required for that service. |
| (2) Subject to subsection (3), when setting the charges to be paid for the rights referred to in |
| subsection (1), the rightholder and the broadcasting organisation shall take into account all aspects of the ancillary online service, including – |
| (a) the duration of online availability of the programmes provided in that service, |
| (b) the audience, and |
| (c) the language versions provided. |
| (3) The charges to be paid for the rights referred in in subsection (1) may be calculated on the basis of the revenues of the broadcasting organisation. |
| (4) The principle set out in subsection (1) shall not affect the right of the rightholder and the broadcasting organisation to limit the exploitation of such rights in accordance with the law of the European Union. |
| (5) If an agreement on the exercise of copyright and related rights concerning an ancillary online service and for any acts of reproduction which are necessary for such a service is in force on 7 June 2021, this section shall not apply to that agreement until 7 June 2023. |
| (6) In this section –
‘ancillary online service’ means an online broadcast, by or under the control and responsibility of a broadcasting organisation, of programmes simultaneously with or for a defined period of time after their broadcast by the broadcasting organisation and any material which is ancillary to such broadcast, where a member of the public can access the programme from a place and at a time chosen by them; |
| ‘programmes’ means – |
| (a) radio programmes, or |
| (b) television programmes (other than the broadcast of sports events and works included in them) which are – |
| (i) news and current affairs programmes,
or |
| (ii) fully financed own productions of the broadcasting organisation.21 | |
| 7.—(1) The Minister may make regulations for the purpose of enabling this Act to have full effect. | |
| (2) Regulations made under this section may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of this Act. | |
| Regulations and orders. | (3) The Minister may make regulations for prescribing any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed. |
| (4) The Government or Minister, as the case may be, may by order amend or revoke an order made by the Government or the Minister under this Act including an order made under this subsection (other than an order made under section 1 (2)). | |
| 8.—Every order (other than an order made under section 1 (2)) or regulation made by the Minister, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government22 or the Minister for Finance 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 or regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder. | |
| 9.—The expenses incurred by the Minister and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government23 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. | |
| Laying of regulations and orders. | 10.—(1) The First Schedule shall have effect with respect to transitional matters. |
| Expenses. | (2) The Acts mentioned in column (2) of Part I of the Second Schedule are hereby repealed to the extent mentioned in column (3) of that Schedule. |
| Transitional provisions and repeals. | (3) The statutory instruments mentioned in column (2) of Part II of the Second Schedule are hereby revoked to the extent mentioned in column (3) of that Schedule. |
21 Inserted by European Union (Copyright and Related Rights Applicable to Certain Online Transmissions and Retransmissions) Regulations 2022
22 Inserted by the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Act 2007
23 Inserted by the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Act 2007
Offences |
11.—(1) Summary proceedings for an offence under this Act may be brought and prosecuted by the Minister. |
| (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 10(4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, summary proceedings for an offence under this Act may be commenced at any time within 12 months from the date on which the offence was committed. | |
Prosecution of offences. |
12.—Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent, connivance or approval of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a person being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or any other person who was acting or purporting to act in any such capacity, that person as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of an offence and be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence. |
| 13.—(1) Without prejudice to any liability of a partner under subsection (3), where an offence under this Act is committed by a partnership any proceedings shall be brought against the partnership in the name of the partnership and not in the name of the individual partner. | |
Offences by bodies corporate. |
(2) A fine imposed on a partnership on its conviction in proceedings brought under subsection (1) shall be paid out of the assets of the partnership. |
Offences by members of partnership. |
(3) Where a partnership is guilty of an offence under this Act, every partner, other than a partner who is proved to have been ignorant of or to have attempted to prevent commission of the offence, shall also be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. |
| 14.—(1) A notice required to be served or given under this Act shall, subject to subsection (2), be addressed to the person concerned by name, and may be served on or given to the person in one of the following ways— | |
| (a) by delivering it to the person, | |
Service of notices. |
(b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address, |
| (c) by sending it by post in a prepaid letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, to that address, |
| (d) by sending it by such other method (including electronic method) as the Minister may decide, | |
| (e) where the address at which the person ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry and notice is required to be served on, or given to, him or her in respect of any premises, by delivering it to a person over the age of 16 years of age resident in or employed at the premises or by affixing it in a conspicuous position on or near the premises. | |
| (2) Where a notice under this Act is to be served on or given to a person who is the owner or occupier of any premises and the name of the person cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry, it may be
addressed to the person by using the words “the owner” or, as the case may require, “the occupier”. |
|
| (3) For the purposes of this section, a company within the meaning of the Companies Acts, 1963 to 1999, shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate, unincorporated body or person, including a partnership shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business. | |
| (4) A person shall not at any time during the period of 3 months after a notice is affixed under subsection (1)(e) remove, alter, damage or deface the notice without lawful authority. | |
| (5) A person who contravenes subsection (4) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 class C fine.24 | |
| 15.—The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of any fees payable under this Act. | |
| 16.—An appeal lies from the making of an order under this Act— | |
| Fees. | (a) from the District Court to the Circuit Court, where the order is made by the District Court, |
| Jurisdiction of Courts. | (b) from the Circuit Court to the High Court, where the order is made by the Circuit Court, |
| (c) from the Central Criminal Court to the Court of Criminal Appeal, where the order is made by the Central Criminal Court. |
24 Amended by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
| 16A. The Circuit Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine intellectual property claims25. | |
| 16B. (1) The District Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine intellectual property claims. | |
| Circuit Court | (2) The District Court in which such a claim shall be heard is the District Court Area in which the defendant concerned ordinarily resides or carries on any business, trade or profession.26 |
| District Court | PART II
Copyright |
| Chapter 1
Subsistence of Copyright |
|
| 17.—(1) Copyright is a property right whereby, subject to this Act, the owner of the copyright in any work may undertake or authorise other persons in relation to that work to undertake certain acts in the State, being acts which are designated by this Act as acts restricted by copyright in a work of that description. | |
| (2) Copyright subsists, in accordance with this Act, in— | |
Copyright and copyright works. |
(a) original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works, |
| (b) sound recordings, films, broadcasts or cable programmes, | |
| (c) the typographical arrangement of published editions, and | |
| (d) original databases. | |
| (3) Copyright protection shall not extend to the ideas and principles which underlie any element of a work, procedures, methods of operation or mathematical concepts and, in respect of original databases, shall not extend to their contents and is without prejudice to any rights subsisting in those contents. | |
| (4) Copyright shall not subsist in a work unless the requirements for copyright protection specified in this Part with respect to qualification are complied with. | |
| (5) Copyright shall not subsist in a work which infringes, or to the extent that it infringes, the copyright in another work. |
25 Inserted by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
| (6) Copyright shall not subsist in a work which is, or to the extent that it is, a copy taken from a work which has been previously made available to the public. | |
| 18.—(1) Copyright shall not subsist in a literary, dramatic or musical work or an original database until that work is recorded in writing or otherwise by or with the consent of the author. | |
| (2) References in this Part to the time at which, or the period during which, a work referred to in subsection (1) is made are to the time at which, or the period during which, that work is so recorded. | |
Copyright in literary, dramatic or musical works and original databases. |
(3) Copyright may subsist in a work that is recorded and may subsist in the recording of a work. |
| 19.—Copyright shall not subsist in a sound recording until the first fixation of the sound recording is made. | |
| 20.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), copyright shall not subsist in the transmission of a broadcast or other material in a cable programme service unless the transmission alters the content of the broadcast or other materials. | |
Copyright in sound recordings. |
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) shall affect the copyright subsisting in the broadcast or other material arising other than by virtue of the transmission. |
Exclusion of copyright in retransmission. |
Chapter 2
Authorship and Ownership of Copyright |
| 21.—In this Act, “author” means the person who creates a work and includes: | |
| (a) in the case of a sound recording, the producer; | |
Interpretation of author. |
(b) in the case of a film (including the soundtrack accompanying the film),27 the producer and the principal director; |
| (c) in the case of a broadcast, the person making the broadcast or in the case of a broadcast which relays another broadcast by reception and immediate retransmission, without alteration, the person making that other broadcast; | |
| (d) in the case of a cable programme, the person providing the cable programme service in which the programme is included; |
27 Inserted by the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Provisions Act 2019
| (e) in the case of a typographical arrangement of a published edition, the publisher; | |
| (f) in the case of a work which is computer-generated, the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken; | |
| (g) in the case of an original database, the individual or group of individuals who made the database; and | |
| (h) in the case of a photograph, the photographer. | |
| 22.—(1) In this Act, “a work of joint authorship” means a work produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of each author is not distinct from that of the other author or authors. | |
| (2) A film shall be treated as a work of joint authorship unless the producer and the principal director are the same person. | |
Works of joint authorship. |
(3) A broadcast shall be treated as a work of joint authorship if more than one person makes the broadcast and the contribution of each person is not distinct from that of any of the others involved in making that broadcast. |
| (4) References in this Act to the author of a work shall, unless otherwise provided, be construed, in relation to a work of joint authorship, as references to all of the authors of the work. | |
| 23.—(1) The author of a work shall be the first owner of the copyright unless— | |
| (a) the work is made by an employee in the course of employment, in which case the employer is the first owner of any copyright in the work, subject to any agreement to the contrary, | |
First ownership of copyright. |
(b) the work is the subject of Government or Oireachtas copyright, |
| (c) the work is the subject of the copyright of a prescribed international organisation, or | |
| (d) the copyright in the work is conferred on some other person by an enactment. | |
| (2) Where a work, other than a computer program, is made by an author in the course of employment by the proprietor of a newspaper or periodical, the author may use the work for any purpose, other than for the purposes of making available that work to |
| newspapers or periodicals, without infringing the copyright in the work. |