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INTELECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

NATIONAL LEGISLATION - BARBADOS

Copyright and Related Rights Laws and Treaties
Copyright Act, 1998


Publication

  1.  
  1. Subject to this section, for the purposes of this Act, "publication" in relation to a work means
    1. the issue of copies of the work to the public, whether by way of sale or otherwise, and
    2. where the work is a literary, musical, dramatic or artistic work, the making available of copies to the public by means of an electronic retrieval system.
  2.  References in this Act to the issue to the public of copies of a work are to the act of putting into circulation copies not previously put into circulation in Barbados or elsewhere, and not to
    1. any subsequent distribution, sale, hiring or loan of those copies; or
    2. any subsequent importation of those copies into Barbados.
  3. Without affecting subsection (2), references in this Act to the issue of copies of a work in relation to sound recordings, films and computer programmes, are to the act of issuing copies to the public by rental.
  4. For the purposes of this Act "commercial publication" in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work means
    1. issuing copies of the work to the public at a time when copies made in advance of the receipt of orders are generally available to the public; or
    2. making the work available to the public by means of an electronic retrieval system.
  5. In the case of a work of architecture in the form of a building or an artistic work incorporated in a building, construction of the building shall be treated as publication of the work.
  6. The following do not constitute publication for the purposes of this Act:
    1. in case of a literary, dramatic or musical work,
      1. the performance of the work, or
      2. the broadcasting of the work or its inclusion in a cable programme service otherwise than for the purposes of an electronic retrieval system;
    2. in the case of an artistic work,
      1. the exhibition of the work, or
      2. the issue to the public of copies of a graphic work representing, or of photographs of, a work of architecture in the form of a building or a model for a building, a sculpture or a work of artistic craftsmanship,
      3. the issue to the public of copies of a film including the work, or
      4. the broadcasting of the work or its inclusion in a cable programme service otherwise than for the purposes of an electronic retrieval system;
    3. in the case of a sound recording or film,
      1. the playing or showing of the work in public, or
      2. the broadcasting of the work or its inclusion in a cable programme service.
  7. A publication that is merely colourable and is not intended to satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public shall be disregarded for the purposes of this Act except in so far as it may constitute an infringement of copyright or rights conferred on performers or persons having recording rights or may constitute an offence under this Act.
  8. For the purposes of this Act, a publication in Barbados or in any other country 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.
  9. In determining, for the purposes of this Act
    1. whether a work has been published;
    2. whether a publication of a work was the first publication of the work; or
    3. whether a work was published or otherwise dealt with in the lifetime of a person,
    any unauthorised publication or the doing of any other unauthorised act shall be disregarded.

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Encrypted broadcast

  1.  
  1. In relation to the broadcast of a work, an encrypted transmission shall be regarded as capable of being lawfully received by members of the public only if decoding equipment has been made available to members of the public by or with the authority of the person making the transmission or the person providing the contents of the transmission.
  2. References in this Act to the person making a broadcast, broadcasting a work or including a work in a broadcast are references
    1. to the person transmitting the programme, to the extent that he has responsibility for its contents; and
    2. to any person providing the programme who makes with the person transmitting it, the arrangements necessary for its transmission.
  3. References in this Act to a programme, in the context of broadcasting, are references to any item included in a broadcast.

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PART I : COPYRIGHT

Protected Works

Requirements for protection

  1.  
  1. Unless otherwise specifically provided in this Act, copyright shall not subsist in any work unless it satisfies the requirements specified in this Part respecting
    1. the category of work, and
    2. either
      1. the qualification of the author, or
      2. the country or place of first publication, or in the case of a broadcast or cable programme, the country or place where it is made or from which it is sent, as the case may be.
  2. If the requirements of this Part or of section 144 are once satisfied in respect of a work, copyright does not cease to subsist by reason of any subsequent event.

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Eligible works

  1.  
  1. Copyright is a property right which, subject to the provisions of this section, may subsist in the following categories of work:
    1. original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works;
    2. sound recordings, films, broadcasts or cable programmes;
    3. typographical arrangements of published editions,
    and copyright may subsist in a work irrespective of its quality or the purpose for which it was created.
  2. A literary, dramatic or musical work shall not be eligible for copyright protection unless it is recorded in writing or in some other form; and any reference in this Act to the time at which a work is made is a reference to the time at which it is so recorded.
  3. For the purposes of subsection (2), it is immaterial whether the work is recorded by or with the permission of the author; and where it is not recorded by the author, nothing in that subsection shall affect the question whether copyright subsists in the record of the work as distinct from the work recorded.
  4. Copyright shall not subsist in a sound recording or film that is, or to the extent that it is, a copy taken from a previous sound recording or film.
  5. Copyright shall not subsist in a broadcast that infringes, or to the extent that it infringes, the copyright in another broadcast or in a cable programme.
  6. Copyright shall not subsist in a cable programme
    1. if it is included in a cable programme service by reception and immediate re-transmission of a broadcast; or
    2. if it infringes, or to the extent that it infringes, the copyright in another cable programme or in a broadcast.
  7. Copyright shall not subsist in the typographical arrangement of a published edition of, or to the extent that it reproduces the typographical arrangement of, a previous edition.
  8. Copyright protection does not extend to an idea, concept, process, principle, procedure, methods of operation, system or discovery or things of a similar nature.

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Qualification for protection: author

  1.  
  1. A work qualifies for copyright protection if the author was a qualified person at the material time.
  2. A work of joint authorship qualifies for copyright protection if any of the authors satisfies the requirement of subsection (1), but where a work qualifies for copyright protection only under this section, only those authors who satisfy such requirement shall be taken into account for the purposes of sections 9 and 22.
  3. In this section "the material time" means in relation to
    1. an unpublished literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, when the work was made or, if the work extended over a period, a substantial part of that period;
    2. a published literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work when the work was first published or, if the author had died before that time, immediately before his death;
    3. a sound recording or film, when it was made;
    4. a broadcast, when the broadcast was made;
    5. a cable programme, when the programme was included in a cable programme service;
    6. the typographical arrangement of a published edition, when the edition was first published.

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Qualifications for protection

  1.  
  1. A literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, a sound recording or film, or the typographical arrangement of a published edition qualifies for copyright protection if, having regard to section 3, it is first published in Barbados or a specified country.
  2. A broadcast qualifies for copyright protection if it is made from a place in Barbados or a specified country by a broadcasting organisation in possession of a valid licence granted to it under any law in force in Barbados or a specified country regulating broadcasting.
  3. A cable programme qualifies for copyright protection if it is sent from a place in Barbados or in a specified country in accordance with the law in force in Barbados or that country regulating transmission by cable.

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Economic and moral rights

  1.  
  1. By virtue of and subject to the provisions of this Act, the owner of the copyright in a work has the exclusive right to do or to authorise other persons to do any of the following acts in Barbados:
    1. to copy the work;
    2. to issue copies of the work to the public;
    3. to perform the work in public or, in the case of a sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme, to play or show the work in public;
    4. to broadcast the work or include it in a cable programme service, or
    5. to make an adaptation of the work and, in relation to such adaptation, to do any or all of the foregoing acts.
  2. For the purposes of subsection (1) references to the doing of any act in relation to any work means the doing of the act
    1. in relation to the whole or any substantial part of the work; and
    2. either directly or indirectly,
  3. and it is immaterial whether any intervening acts themselves infringe copyright.
  4. By virtue of and subject to the provisions of this Act,
    1. the author of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work that is a protected work; or
    2. the director of a film that is a protected work,
  5. has in respect of that work, whether or not he is the owner of the copyright in the work, the moral rights specified in Part II.

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Duration of Copyright

Duration of literary work, etc.

  1.  
  1. Subject to the provisions of this section, copyright in any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work exists for the life of the author and for the fifty calendar years following his death.
  2. When copyright in a work referred to in subsection (1) is vested jointly in more than one author, the copyright exists for the life of the last surviving author and for fifty calendar years immediately following the year of his death.
  3. Where the author of a work referred to in subsection (1) is unknown, copyright in that work exists for the fifty calendar years immediately following the year in which the work was first published; but if during that period the identity of the author is revealed, or his identity is no longer in doubt, copyright exists, for such period specified in subsection (1) or (2), as the circumstances require.
  4. Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to a computer-generated work, the copyright in which expires at the end of the period of fifty calendar years following the calendar year in which the work was made.
  5. This section does not apply to copyright that subsists by virtue of section 144.

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Duration: sound recordings and films

  1.  
  1. Copyright in a sound recording or film exists for the fifty calendar years immediately following the calendar year in which it was made or, where it is made available to the public before the end of that period, fifty calendar years immediately following the calendar year in which it is so made available.
  2. For the purposes of subsection (1) a sound recording or film is made available to the public when
    1. it is first published, broadcast or included in a cable programme service;
    2. in the case of a film or film sound track, the film is first shown in public.
  3. For the purposes of subsection (2) in determining whether a sound recording or film has been made available to the public, any unauthorized act shall be disregarded.

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Duration of copyright in broadcasts and cable programmes

  1.  
  1. Copyright in a broadcast or cable programme exists for the fifty calendar years immediately following the calendar year in which the broadcast was made or the programme included in a cable programme service.
  2. Copyright in a repeat broadcast or a repeat cable programme exists for the same period as copyright in the original broadcast or cable programme; and no copyright arises in respect of a repeat broadcast or a repeat cable programme which is broadcast or, as the case may be, included in a cable programme service after the expiry of the copyright in the original broadcast or cable programme.
  3. Reference in subsection (2) to a repeat broadcast or a repeat cable prograrnme means one that is a repeat of a broadcast previously made or a cable programme previously included in a cable programme service, as the case may be.

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Duration: typographical arrangement of editions

  1. Copyright in the typographical arrangement of a published edition exists for the twenty-five calendar years immediately following the calendar year in which the edition was first published.

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PART II : MORAL RIGHTS AND RELATED RIGHTS

Identification with Work

Right to be identified as author, etc.

  1.  
  1. Subject to subsection (9) and to such exceptions as may be specified in or pursuant to any other provision of this Act, the author of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work that is a protected work and the director of a film that is a protected work have, respectively, the right to be identified as the author or, as the case may be, director of the work in the circumstances specified in this section.
  2. The author of a literary work, other than words intended to be sung or spoken with music, or a dramatic work has the right to be identified as such whenever
    1. the work or an adaptation thereof is published commercially, performed in public, broadcast or included in a cable programme service; or
    2. copies of a film or sound recording including the work or an adaptation thereof are issued to the public.
  3. The author of a musical work or a literary work consisting of words intended to be sung or spoken with music, has the right to be identified as such whenever
    1. the work or an adaptation thereof is published commercially;
    2. copies of a sound recording of the work or an adaptation thereof are issued to the public; or
    3. a film, the sound track of which includes the work, is shown in public or copies of such film are issued to the public.
  4. The author of an artistic work has the right to be identified as such whenever
    1. the work is published commercially or exhibited in public or a visual image of it is broadcast or included in a cable programme service;
    2. a film including a visual image of the work is shown in public or copies of such a film are issued to the public; or
    3. in the case of a work of architecture in the form of a building or a model for a building, a sculpture or a work of artistic craftsmanship, copies of a graphic work representing it or of a photograph of it, are issued to the public.
  5. In addition to the right specified in paragraph (c) of subsection (4), the author of a work of architecture in the form of a building has the right to be identified on the building as constructed or, where more than one building is constructed to the design, on the first to be constructed.
  6. The director of a film has the right to be identified as such whenever the film is shown in public, broadcast or included in a cable programme service or copies of the film are issued to the public.
  7. The right of an author or director under this section is
    1. in the case of commercial publications or the issue to the public of copies of a film or sound recording, to be identified in or on each copy or, if that is not appropriate, in some other manner likely to bring his identity to the notice of a person acquiring a copy;
    2. in the case of identification on a building, to be identified by appropriate means visible to persons entering or approaching the building; and
    3. in any other case, to be identified in a manner likely to bring his identity to the attention of a person seeing or hearing the performance, exhibition, film, broadcast or cable programme in question,
  8. and the identification must, in each case, be clear and reasonably prominent.
  9. For the purposes of this section, any reasonable form of identification may be used.
  10. Except as may otherwise be explicitly provided by contract, the right conferred by this section does not apply in relation to
    1. a computer programme, the design of a typeface or a computer-generated work;
    2. any work made for the purpose of reporting current events;
    3. the publication in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical or in an encyclopedia, dictionary, year book or other collective work of reference, of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work made for the purposes of such publication or made available with the consent of the author for purposes of such publication;
    4. a work in which copyright originally vested in an international organisation by virtue of section 144, unless the author or director has previously been identified as such in or on published copies of the work.

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Objection to Treatment of Work

Right to object to derogatory treatment of work

  1.  
  1. Subject to subsections (2) and (3) and to such exceptions as may be specified in or pursuant to any other provision of this Act, the author of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work that is a protected work and the director of a film that is a protected work have, respectively, the right not to have the work or any part thereof subjected to derogatory treatment; and such right is infringed by any person who does any of the acts specified in section 37 in the circumstances so specified.
  2. The right referred to in subsection (1) does not apply in relation to
    1. a computer programme or to a computer-generated work;
    2. fair dealing with any work made for the purpose of reporting current events.
  3. The right referred to in subsection (1) does not apply to anything done by or with the authority of the copyright owner in relation to works in which copyright originally vested in an international organisation by virtue of section 144 unless the author or director
    1. is identified at the time of the relevant act; or
    2. has previously been identified in or on published copies of the work,
  4. and where in such a case the right does not apply, it is not infringed if there is a sufficient disclaimer.
  5. In this Act,
    1. "derogatory treatment" in relation to a work means any addition to, deletion from, alteration to or adaptation of the work, not being a translation of a literary or dramatic work or an arrangement or transcription of a musical work involving no more than a change of key or register, which amounts to a distortion or mutilation of the work, or is otherwise prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the author or director, as the case may be; and
    2. "sufficient disclaimer" means a clear and reasonably prominent indication
      1. given at the time of the act; and
      2. if the author or director is then identified, appearing along with the identification,
  6. that the work has been subjected to treatment to which the author or director has not consented.

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Related Rights

False attribution of work

  1.  
  1. A person has the right
    1. not to have a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work falsely attributed to him as author; and
    2. not to have a film falsely attributed to him as director.
  2. In this section, "attribution", in relation to a work, means a statement whether express or implied, as to the identity of the author or director.
  3. The right conferred by subsection (1) is infringed in the circumstances specified in section 40.

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Right to privacy of photographs and films

  1. Subject to section 41, a person who for private and domestic purposes commissions the taking of a photograph or the making of a film has, where the resulting work is a protected work, the right not to have
  1. copies of the work issued to the public;
  2. the work exhibited or shown in public; or
  3. the work broadcast or included in a cable programme service.

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Duration: moral, etc., rights

  1.  
  1. The rights conferred by sections 14, 15 and 17 subsist so long as copyright subsists in the work.
  2. The right conferred by section 16 subsists until the end of the period of twenty calendar years immediately following the calendar year in which the person died.

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Consent and waiver of rights

  1.  
  1. A person having a right conferred under this Part may consent to the doing of any act affecting such right or may waive the right.
  2. A right to which subsection (1) refers may be waived by instrument in writing signed by the person waiving the right, and the waiver
    1. may relate to works generally or to a specific work or class of works and may relate to existing or future works; and
    2. may be conditional or unconditional and may be expressed to be subject to revocation.
  3. Where a waiver is made in favour of the owner or prospective owner of the copyright in the work to which it relates, it shall be presumed to extend to his licensees and successors in title, unless a contrary intention is expressed.
  4. Nothing in this Part shall be construed as excluding the operation of the general law of contract or estoppel in relation to an informal waiver or other transaction in relation to any of the rights to which this Part relates.

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Application to joint works

  1.  
  1. The right conferred under section 14 is, in the case of a work of joint authorship, a right of each joint author to be identified as a joint author.
  2. The right conferred by section 15 is, in the case of a work of joint authorship, a right of each joint author and his right is satisfied if he consents to the treatment in question.
  3. A waiver of rights under section 19 by one joint author does not affect the rights of the other joint authors.
  4. Subsections (1), (2), and (3) also apply, with such modifications and adaptations as are necessary, in relation to a film that was, or is alleged to have been, jointly directed as they apply to a work which is, or alleged to be, a work of joint authorship; and for the purposes of this subsection, a film is "jointly directed" if it is made by the collaboration of two or more directors and the contribution of each director is not distinct from that of the other director or directors.
  5. The right conferred by section 17 is, in the case of a work made in pursuance of a joint commission, a right of each person who commissioned the making of the work, so that
    1. the right of each is satisfied if he consents to the act in question; and
    2. a waiver under section 19 by one of them does not affect the rights of the others.

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Application of provisions to parts of work

  1. The rights conferred by
  1. sections 14 and 17 apply in relation to the whole or any substantial part of a work; and
  2. sections 15 and 16 apply in relation to the whole or any part of a work.

 

Continuation: PART III : OWNERSHIP AND ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHTS

 

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