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Intellectual Property Rights

NATIONAL LEGISLATION - TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

The Copyright Act, 1997
Copyright and Neighboring Rights
(No 8 of 1997)


Sections 

* Short title.
* Entry into force: October 1, 1997.
* Source: Communication from the authorities of Trinidad and Tobago.

An Act to make provision in respect
of copyright and neighbouring rights,
in substitution for the copyright Act, 1985,
and for related purposes

PART I


PRELIMINARY

(Short title and commencement)

1. 

(1) This Act may be cited as the Copyright Act, 1997.

(2) This Act shall come into force on such date as is fixed by the President by Proclamation.

(Act inconsistent with the Constitution)

2.
This Act shall have effect even though inconsistent with sections 4 and 5 of the Constitution.

(Interpretation)

3. For the purposes of this Act, the following terms have the following meaning:

“audio-visual work” is a work that consists of a series of related images which impart the impression of motion, with or without accompanying sounds, susceptible of being made visible, and where accompanied by sounds, susceptible of being made audible;

“author” is the natural person who has created the work;

“broadcasting” is the communication of a work, a performance or a sound recording to the public in any country or territory by wireless transmission, including transmission by satellite, and

“broadcast” and “rebroadcasting” have corresponding meanings;

“building” is a structure of any kind;

“collective work” is a work created by two or more natural persons at the initiative and under the direction of a natural person or legal entity, with the understanding that it will be disclosed by the latter person or entity under his or its own name and that the identity of the contributing natural persons will not be indicated;

“communication to the public” is the transmission by wire or wireless means, of the images or sounds, or both, of a work, a performance or a sound recording in such a way that the images or sounds can be perceived by persons outside the normal circle of a family and its closest social acquaintances at a place or places so distant from the place where the transmission originates that, without the transmission, the images or sounds would not be perceivable and further, irrespective of whether the persons can receive the images or sounds at the same place and time, or at different places or times;

“computer” is an electronic or similar device having information processing capabilities; and a

“computer program” is a set of instructions expressed in words, codes, schemes or in any other form, which is capable, when incorporated in a medium that the computer can read, of causing a computer to perform or achieve a particular task or result;

“copyright” is the right subsisting under Part II;

“Court” is the High Court;

“electronic retrieval system” is an electronic system—

(a) in which works, performances or broadcasts may be stored; and

(b) from which a member of the public may cause a work, performance or broadcast, selected by him, to be transmitted, by wire or wireless means, to receiving equipment under his control;

“exclusive licence” is a licence in writing signed by or on behalf of an owner or prospective owner of copyright or neighbouring rights, authorizing the licensee to the exclusion of all other persons, including the person granting the licence, to exercise a right which by virtue of this Act would (apart from the licence) be exercisable exclusively by the owner of copyright or neighbouring rights and

“exclusive licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“future copyright or neighbouring rights” has the meaning assigned to it under section 29(2);

“general licence” has the meaning assigned to it under section 49;

“infringement” is any act that contravenes any rights protected under this Act;

“licensing body” has the meaning assigned to it under section 49;

“moral rights” are the rights subsisting under Part III;

“neighbouring rights” are the rights subsisting under Part V;

“performers” are singers, musicians, and other persons who sing, deliver, declaim, play in, or otherwise perform literary and artistic works and “performance” has a corresponding meaning;

“photographic work” is the recording of light or other radiation on any medium on which an image is produced or from which an image may be produced, irrespective of the technique (chemical, electronic or other) by which such recording is made; a still picture extracted from an audiovisual work shall not be considered a “photographic work” but a part of the audiovisual work concerned;

“producer” of an audiovisual work, a work of mas or a sound recording, is the natural person or legal entity by whom the arrangements necessary for the making of the audiovisual work, work of mas or sound recording are undertaken;

“prospective owner” has the meaning assigned to it in the definition of “future copyright or neighbouring rights” in section 29(2);

“public display” is the showing of the original or a copy of a work—

(a) directly;

(b) by means of a film, slide, television image or otherwise on screen;

(c) by means of any other device or process; or

(d) in the case of an audiovisual work, the showing of individual images nonsequentially, at a place or places where persons outside the normal circle of a family and its closest social acquaintances are or can be present, irrespective of whether they are or can be present at the same place and time or at different places or times, and where the work can be displayed without communication to the public within the meaning of “communication to the public”;

“public lending” is the transfer of the possession of the original or a copy of a work or a sound recording for a limited period of time for non-profit making purposes, by an institution, the services of which are available to the public, such as a public library or archive;

“public performance”, is—

(a) in the case of a work other than an audiovisual work, the recitation, playing, dancing, acting or otherwise performing the work, either directly or by means of any device or process;

(b) in the case of an audiovisual work, the showing of images in sequence and the making of accompanying sounds audible; and

(c) in the case of a sound recording, making the recorded sounds audible,
at a place or at places were persons outside the normal circle of the family and its closest acquaintances are or can be present, irrespective of whether they are or can be present at the same place and time, or at different places or times, and where the performance can be perceived without the need for communication to the public within the meaning of the definition of

“communication to the public”;

“published” refers to a work or a sound recording—

(a) copies of which have been made available to the public in a reasonable quantity for sale, rental, public lending or for other transfer of the ownership or the possession of the copies; or

(b) which have been made available to the public by means of an electronic retrieval system, provided that, in the case of a work, the making available to the public took place with the consent of the author or other owner of copyright, and in the case of a sound recording, with the consent of the producer of the sound recording or his successor in title;

“related offence” has the meaning assigned to it under section 40(1);

“related penalty” has the meaning assigned to it under section 40(1);

“rental” is the transfer of the possession of the original or a copy of a work or sound recording for a limited period of time for profit-making purposes;

“reproduction” is the making of one or more copies of a work or sound recording in any material form, including any permanent or temporary storage of the work or sound recording in electronic form;

“sound recording” is any exclusively aural fixation of the sounds of a performance or of other sounds, regardless of the method by which the sounds are fixed or the medium in which the sounds are embodied but does not include a fixation of sounds and images, such as the sound track of an audiovisual work;

“work” is any literary or artistic work under section 5(1);

“work of applied art” is an artistic creation with utilitarian functions or incorporated in a useful article, whether made by hand or produced on an industrial scale;

“work of joint authorship” is a work to the creation of which two or more authors have contributed, provided the work does not qualify as a “collective work” under the definition of “collective work”’;

“work of mas” is an original production intended to be performed by a person or a group of persons in which an artistic work in the form of an adornment or image presented by the person or persons is the primary element of the production, and in which such adornment or image may be accompanied by words, music, choreography or other works, regardless of whether the production is intended to be performed on stage, platform, street or other venue.

(Application)

4. 

(1) This Act shall also apply to works made, performances given, sound recordings made and broadcasts first transmitted before the date of the coming into force of this Act, provided that the term of protection had not expired under the Copyright Act, 1985 or, in the case of works, under the legislation of the country of origin of such works, that are to be protected under an international treaty to which Trinidad and Tobago is party.

(2) This Act shall not affect contracts on works, performances and broadcasts concluded before the coming into force of this Act.

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PART II


COPYRIGHT

(Copyright and copyright works)

5.

(1) Copyright is a property right which subsists in literary and artistic works that are original intellectual creations in the literary and artistic domain, including in particular:

(a) books, pamphlets, articles, computer programs and other writings;

(b) speeches, lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of the same nature;

(c) dramatic works, dramatico-musical works, pantomimes, choreographic works and other works created for stage productions;

(d) stage productions of works mentioned in paragraph (c);

(e) musical works, with or without accompanying words;

(f) audiovisual works;

(g) works of architecture;

(h) works of drawing, painting, sculpture, engraving, lithography, tapestry and other works of fine art;

(i) photographic works;

(j) works of applied art;

(k) illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography, architecture or science.

(2) Works shall be protected by the sole fact of their creation and irrespective of their mode or form of expression, as well as of their content, quality and purpose.

(Derivative works)

6.

(1) The following shall also be protected as works:

(a) translations, adaptations, arrangements and other transformations or modifications of works;

(b) collections of works and collections of mere data (data bases), whether in machine readable or other form, provided that such collections are original by reason of the selection, co-ordination or arrangement of their contents; and

(c) works of mas.

(2) The protection of any work referred to in subsection (1) shall be without prejudice to any protection of a pre-existing work incorporated in or utilized for the making of such a work.

(Subject matter not protected)

7.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 5 and 6, but subject to subsection (2), no protection shall extend under this Act to—

(a) any idea, procedure, system, method of operation, concept, principle, discovery or mere data, even if expressed, described, explained, illustrated or embodied in a work;

(b) any official text of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, as well as any official translation thereof;

(c) political speeches and speeches delivered in the course of legal proceedings.

(2) Collections of texts or speeches referred to in subsection (1)(b) or (c), whether in machine readable or other form, shall be protected as works provided that such collections are original by reason of the selection, co-ordination or arrangement of their contents.

(Nature of copyright)

8.

(1) Subject to the provisions of sections 9 to 17, the owner of copyright shall have the exclusive right to do, authorize, or prohibit the following acts in relation to the work:

(a) reproduction of the work;

(b) translation of the work;

(c) adaptation, arrangement or other transformation of the work;

(d) the first public distribution of the original and each copy of the work by sale, rental or otherwise;

(e) rental or public lending of the original or a copy of an audiovisual work, a work embodied in a sound recording, a computer program, a data base or a musical work in the form of notation, irrespective of the ownership of the original or copy concerned;

(f) importation of copies of the work, even where the imported copies were made with the authorization of the owner of copyright;

(g) public display of the original or a copy of the work;

(h) public performance of the work;

(i) broadcasting of the work;

(j) communication to the public of the work.

(2) The rights of rental and lending under paragraph (e) of subsection (1) do not apply to rental or lending of computer programs where the program itself is not the essential object of the rental or lending.

(Private reproduction for personal purposes)

9.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 8(1)(a) and subject to the provisions of subsection (2) the private reproduction of a published work in a single copy shall be permitted without the authorization of the owner of copyright, where the reproduction is made by a natural person exclusively for his own personal purposes.

(2) The permission under subsection (1) shall not extend to reproduction—

(a) of a work of architecture in the form of a building or other construction;

(b) in the form of reprography of the whole or a substantial part of a book or of a musical work in the form of notation;

(c) of the whole or a substantial part of a data base;

(d) of a computer program, except as provided in section 14; and

(e) of any work in cases where reproduction would conflict with a normal exploitation of the work or would otherwise unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the owner of copyright.

(Quotation)

10.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 8(1)(a), the reproduction of a short part of a published work, in the form of a quotation, shall be permitted without authorization of the owner of copyright, provided that the reproduction is compatible with fair dealing and does not exceed the extent justified by the purpose.

(2) The quotation shall be accompanied by an indication of its source and the name of the author, if his name appears in the work from which the quotation is taken.

(Reproduction for teaching)

11.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 8(1)(a), the following acts shall be permitted without authorization of the owner of copyright:

(a) the reproduction of a short part of a published work for teaching purposes by way of illustration, in writing or sound or visual recordings, provided that such reproduction is compatible with fair dealing and does not exceed the extent justified by the purpose;

(b) the reprographic reproduction, for face-to-face teaching in educational institutions the activities of which do not serve direct or indirect commercial gain, of published articles, short works or short extracts from works, to the extent justified by the purpose, provided that—

i(i) the act of reproduction is an isolated one occurring, if repeated, on separate and unrelated occasions; and

(ii) there is no collective licence available (that is, offered by a collective administration organization of which the educational institution is or should be aware) under which such reproduction can be made.

(2) The source of the work reproduced and the name of the author shall be indicated as far as practicable on all copies made under subsection (1).

(Reprographic reproduction by libraries and archives)

12. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 8(1)(a), any library or archive whose activities do not serve direct or indirect commercial gain may, without the authorization of the owner of copyright, make a single copy of the work by reprographic reproduction—

(a) where the work reproduced is a published article, other short work or short extract of a work, and where the purpose of the reproduction is to satisfy the request of a natural person, provided that—

ii(i) the library or archive is satisfied that the copy will be used solely for the purpose of study, scholarship or private research;

i(ii) the act of reproduction is an isolated case occurring, if repeated, on separate and unrelated occasions; and

(iii) there is no collective licence available (that is, offered by a collective administration organization of which the library or archive is or should be aware) under which such copies can be made; or

(b) where the copy is made in order to preserve and, if necessary replace a copy, or to replace a copy which has been lost, destroyed or rendered unusable in the permanent collection of another similar library or archive, provided that it is impossible to obtain such a copy under reasonable conditions, and provided further that the act of reprographic reproduction is an isolated case occurring, if repeated, on separate and unrelated occasions.

(Reproductions, broadcasting and other communication to the public for informatory purposes)

13. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 8(1)(a), (i) and (j), the following acts shall be permitted in respect of a work without the authorization of the owner of copyright, subject to the obligation to indicate the source and the name of the author as far as practicable:

(a) the reproduction in a newspaper or periodical, the broadcasting or other communication to the public of an article published in a newspaper or periodical on current economic, political or religious topics or a broadcast work of the same character; this permission shall not apply where the owner of copyright has reserved the right to authorize reproduction, broadcasting or other communication to the public on the copies themselves, or in a prominent way in connection with broadcasting or other communication to the public of the work;

(b) for the purpose of reporting current events, the reproduction and the broadcasting or other communication to the public of short excerpts of a work seen or heard in the course of such events, to the extent justified by the informatory purpose;

(c) the reproduction in a newspaper or periodical, the broadcasting or other communication to the public of a lecture, address, sermon or other work of a similar nature delivered in public, to the extent justified by the purpose of providing current information.

(Reproduction and adaptation of computer programs)

14. 

(1) Notwithstanding section 8(1)(a) and (c), the reproduction, in a single copy, or the adaptation of a computer program by the lawful owner of a copy of that computer program shall be permitted without the authorization of the owner of copyright, provided that the copy or adaptation is necessary—

(a) for use of the computer program with a computer for the purpose and extent for which the computer program has been obtained;

(b) for archival purposes and for the replacement of a lawfully owned copy of the computer program in the event that the said copy is lost, destroyed or rendered unusable.

(2) No copy or adaptation of a computer program shall be used for any purpose other than those specified in subsection (1), and any such copy or adaptation shall be destroyed in the event that continued possession of the copy of the computer program ceases to be lawful.

(Importation for personal purposes)

15. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 8(1)(f), the importation of not more than three copies of a work by a natural person for his own personal purposes shall be permitted without the authorization of the owner of copyright.

(Display of works)

16. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 8(1)(g), the public display of originals or copies of works shall be permitted without the authorization of the owner of copyright, provided that the display is made other than by means of a film, slide, television image or otherwise on screen or by means of any other device or process, and provided further that the work has been published or the original or the copy displayed has been sold, given away or otherwise transferred to another person by the owner of copyright or his successor in title.

(Permitted use of artistic works situated in public places)

17. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 8(1) and 16, the inclusion of an artistic work in a work, broadcast or communication to the public shall not be considered an infringement if the artistic work—

(a) is permanently situated in a public place or in premises open to the public; or

(b) is included in the work, broadcast or communication to the public by way only of background or as incidental to the essential matters represented.

Back to [Table of Contents]

PART III

MORAL RIGHTS

(Moral rights)

18.

(1) Independently of his copyright, and even where he is no longer the owner of copyright, the author of a work shall have the right—

(a) to have his name indicated prominently on the copies and in connection with any public use of his work, as far as practicable;

(b) to not have his name indicated on the copies and in connection with any public use of his work;

(c) to use a pseudonym;

(d) to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, his work which would be prejudicial to his honour or reputation.

(2) None of the rights mentioned in subsection (1) shall be transmissible during the life of the author, but the right to exercise any of those rights shall be transmissible by testamentary disposition or by operation of law following the death of the author.

(3) The author may waive any of the moral rights mentioned in subsection (1), provided that such a waiver is in writing and clearly specifies the right or rights waived and the circumstances in which the waiver applies and provided further, that any waiver of the right under paragraph (d) of subsection (1) specifies the nature and extent of the modifications or other action in respect of which the right is waived, and following the death of the author, the natural person or legal entity upon whom or which the moral rights have devolved shall have the right to waive the said rights.

Back to [Table of Contents]

PART IV

DURATION OF COPYRIGHT AND MORAL RIGHTS

(Duration of copyright)

19.

(1) Subject to the provisions of subsections (2) to (5), copyright and moral rights shall be protected during the life of the author and for fifty years after his death.

(2) In the case of a work of joint authorship, copyright and moral rights shall be protected during the life of the last surviving author and for fifty years after his death.

(3) In the case of a collective work, other than a work of applied art, and in the case of an audiovisual work, copyright and moral rights shall be protected for—

(a) seventy-five years from the date on which the work was first published;

(b) seventy-five years from the date on which the work was first made available to the public, if the work has not been published before twenty-five years after its making; or

(c) one hundred years from the making of the work, if the work had neither been made available to the public nor published before twenty-five years after its making.

(4) In the case of a work published anonymously or under a pseudonym, copyright and moral rights shall be protected for—

(a) seventy-five years from the date on which the work was first published;

(b) seventy-five years from the date on which the work was first made available to the public, if the work has not been published before twenty-five years after its making; or

(c) one hundred years from the making of the work, if the work had neither been made available to the public nor published before twenty-five years after its making, provided that where the author’s identity is revealed or is no longer in doubt before the expiration of the said period the provisions of subsection (1) or (2) shall apply, as the case may be.

(5) In the case of a work of applied art, copyright and moral rights shall be protected for twenty-five years from the making of the work.

(6) Every period provided for under the preceding subsections shall run to the end of the calendar year in which it would otherwise expire.

Back to [Table of Contents]

PART V

NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS

(Protection of Performers, Producers of Sound Recordings and Broadcasting Organizations)
(Neighbouring rights subsisting in performances, sound recordings and broadcasts)

20. Neighbouring rights are property rights which subsist in performances, sound recordings and broadcasts.

(Acts requiring authorization of performers)

21.

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 25, a performer shall have the exclusive right to do, authorize or prohibit any of the following acts:

(a) the broadcasting or other communication to the public of his performance other than a communication through an electronic retrieval system, except where the broadcasting or the other communication—

i(i) is made from a fixation of the performance, other than a fixation made under the terms of section 25; or

(ii) is a rebroadcasting made or authorized by the organization initially broadcasting the performance;

(b) the fixation of his unfixed performance;

(c) the reproduction of a fixation of his performance in any manner or form.

(2) Once the performer has authorized the incorporation of his performance in an audiovisual fixation, the provisions of subsection (1) shall have no further application.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to deprive performers of the right to agree by contract on terms and conditions more favourable for them in respect of their performances.

(4) The rights under this section shall be protected from the moment in which the performance takes place until the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the year in which the performance takes place.

(Acts requiring authorization of producers of sound recordings)

22.

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 25, a producer of a sound recording shall have the exclusive right to do, authorize or prohibit any of the following acts:

(a) direct or indirect reproduction of the sound recording in any manner or form;

(b) importation of copies of the sound recording, even where the imported copies were made with the authorization of the producer;

(c) the first public distribution of the original or a copy of the sound recording by sale or otherwise;

(d) adaptation or other transformation of the sound recording;

(e) rental of the original or a copy of the sound recording, for the purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage, irrespective of the ownership of the original or copy rented;

(f) the making available to the public of the sound recording through an electronic retrieval system.

(2) The rights under subsection (1) shall be protected from the publication of the sound recording until the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the year of publication or, if the sound recording has not been published, from the fixation of the sound recording until the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the year of fixation.

(Equitable remuneration for use of sound recordings)

23.

(1) If a sound recording published for commercial purposes, or a reproduction of such sound recording, is used directly for broadcasting or communication to the public, or is publicly performed, a single equitable remuneration for the performer and the producer of the sound recording shall be paid by the user to the producer.

(2) The single equitable remuneration paid by the user to the producer under subsection (1) shall be fixed, in default of agreement, by the Court.

(3) Unless otherwise agreed between the performer and the producer, half of the amount received by the producer under subsection (1) shall be paid by the producer to the performer.

(4) The right to an equitable remuneration under this section shall subsist from the date of publication of the sound recording until the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the year of publication or, if the sound recording has not been published, from the date of fixation of the sound recording until the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the year of fixation.

(5) For the purposes of this section, a sound recording which has been made available to the public through an electronic retrieval system shall be deemed to have been published for commercial purposes.

(Acts requiring authorization of broadcasting organizations)

24.

(1) Subject to the provisions of section 25, a broadcasting organization shall have the exclusive right to do, authorize or prohibit any of the following acts:

(a) the rebroadcasting of its broadcast;

(b) the communication to the public of its broadcast;

(c) the fixation of its broadcast;

(d) the reproduction of a fixation of its broadcast.

(2) The rights under this section shall be protected from the moment when the broadcasting takes place until the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the year in which the broadcast first takes place.

(Limitations on protection)

25. Sections 21, 22, 23 and 24 shall not apply where the acts referred to in those sections are related to—

(a) the use by a natural person exclusively for his own personal purposes;

(b) using short excerpts for reporting current events to the extent justified by the purpose of providing current information;

(c) use solely for the purpose of face-to-face teaching activities or for scientific research;

(d) cases where, under Part II, a work can be used without the authorization of the owner of copyright.

Continue on to Part VI - Ownership and Assignment


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