Copyright Act 1968/Part 10
Part X.—Miscellaneous.
Assignments and licences in respect of copyright. 196.—(1.) Copyright is personal property and, subject to this section, is transmissible by assignment, by will and by devolution by operation of law.
(2.) An assignment of copyright may be limited in any way, including any one or more of the following ways:—
- (a) so as to apply to one or more of the classes of acts that, by virtue of this Act, the owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to do (including a class of acts that is not separately specified in this Act as being comprised in the copyright but falls within a class of acts that is so specified);
- (b) so as to apply to a place in or part of Australia;
- (c) so as to apply to part of the period for which the copyright is to subsist.
(3.) An assignment of copyright (whether total or partial) does not have effect unless it is in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor.
(4.) A licence granted in respect of a copyright by the owner of the copyright binds every successor in title to the interest in the copyright of the grantor of the licence to the same extent as the licence was binding on the grantor.
Prospective ownership of copyright. 197.—(1.) Where, by an agreement made in relation to a future copyright and signed by or on behalf of the person who would, apart from this section, be the owner of the copyright on its coming into existence, that person purports to assign the future copyright (wholly or partially) to another person (in this sub-section referred to as “the assignee”), then if, on the coming into existence of the copyright, the assignee or a person claiming under him would, apart from this sub-section, be entitled as against all other persons to have the copyright vested in him (wholly or partially, as the case may be), the copyright, on its coming into existence, vests in the assignee or his successor in title by force of this sub-section.
(2.) Where, at the time when a copyright comes into existence, the person who, if he were then living, would be entitled to the copyright is dead, the copyright devolves as if it had subsisted immediately before his death and he had then been the owner of the copyright.
(3.) A licence granted in respect of a future copyright by the prospective owner of the copyright binds every successor in title to the prospective interest in the copyright of the grantor of the licence to the same extent as the licence was binding on the grantor.
Copyright to pass under will with unpublished work. 198. Where under a bequest, whether specific or general, a person is entitled, beneficially or otherwise, to the manuscript of a literary, dramatic or musical work, or to an artistic work, and the work was not published before the death of the testator, the bequest shall, unless a contrary intention appears in the testator’s will, be read as including the copyright in the work in so far as the testator was the owner of the copyright immediately before his death.
Reception of broadcasts. 199.—(1.) Where the inclusion in a television broadcast or sound broadcast of a reading or recitation of an extract from a published literary or dramatic work, or from an adaptation of such a work, does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the work, a person who, by the reception of the broadcast, causes the work or adaptation to be performed in public does not, by doing so, infringe the copyright in the work.
(2.) A person who, by the reception of a television broadcast or sound broadcast, causes a sound recording to be heard in public does not, by doing so, infringe the copyright, if any, in that recording under Part IV.
(3.) A person who, by the reception of an authorized television broadcast, causes a cinematograph film to be seen or heard in public shall be treated, in any proceedings for infringement of the copyright, if any, in the film under Part IV., as if he had been the holder of a licence granted by the owner of that copyright to cause the film to be seen or heard in public by the reception of the broadcast.
(4.) A person who, by the reception of an authorized television broadcast or sound broadcast, causes a literary, dramatic or musical work or an adaptation of such a work, an artistic work or a cinematograph film to be transmitted to subscribers to a diffusion service shall be treated, in any proceedings for infringement of the copyright, if any, in the work or film, as if he had been the holder of a licence granted by the owner of that copyright to cause the work, adaptation or film to be transmitted by him to subscribers to that service by the reception of the broadcast.
(5.) If, in the circumstances mentioned in either of the last two preceding sub-sections, the person causing the cinematograph film to be seen or heard, or the work, adaptation or cinematograph film to be transmitted, as the case may be, infringed the copyright concerned by reason that the broadcast was not an authorized broadcast, proceedings shall not be brought against that person under this Act in respect of his infringement of that copyright but the infringement shall be taken into account in assessing damages in any proceedings against the maker of the broadcast in respect of that copyright, in so far as that copyright was infringed by the making of the broadcast.
(6.) For the purposes of this section, a broadcast, in relation to a work, an adaptation of a work or a cinematograph film, is an authorized broadcast if, but only if, it is made by, or with the licence of, the owner of the copyright in the work or film.
(7.) A reference in this section to a broadcast shall—
- (a) in the case of a television broadcast—be read as a reference to such a broadcast made by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, by the holder of a licence for a television station or by a person prescribed for the purposes of sub-paragraph (iii) of paragraph (a) of section 91 of this Act; and
- (b) in the case of a sound broadcast—be read as a reference to such a broadcast made by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, by the holder of a licence for a broadcasting station or by a person prescribed for the purposes of sub-paragraph (iii) of paragraph (b) of section 91 of this Act.
Use of works and broadcasts for educational purposes. 200.—(1.) The copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is not infringed by reason only that the work is reproduced or, in the case of a literary, dramatic or musical work, an adaptation of the work is made or reproduced—
- (a) in the course of educational instruction, where the work is reproduced or the adaptation is made or reproduced by a teacher or student otherwise than by the use of an appliance adapted for the production of multiple copies; or
- (b) as part of the questions to be answered in an examination, or in an answer to such a question.
(2.) The making of a record of a sound broadcast or of a television broadcast, being a broadcast that was intended to be used for educational purposes, does not constitute an infringement of copyright in a work or sound recording included in the broadcast, or an infringement of copyright in the broadcast, if—
- (a) the record is made by, or on behalf of, the person or authority in charge of a place of education that is not conducted for profit; and
- (b) the record is not used except in the course of instruction at that place.
(3.) For the purposes of sections 38 and 103 of this Act, in determining whether the making of an article constituted an infringement of copyright, the last two preceding sub-sections shall be disregarded.
(4.) For the purposes of any provision of this Act relating to imported articles, in determining whether the making of an article made outside Australia would, if the article had been made in Australia by the importer of the article, have constituted an infringement of copyright, sub-sections (1.) and (2.) of this section shall be disregarded.
Delivery of library material to the National Library. 201.—(1.) The publisher of any library material that is published in Australia and in which copyright subsists under this Act shall, within one month after the publication, cause a copy of the material to be delivered at his own expense to the National Library.
Penalty: One hundred dollars.
(2.) The copy of any library material delivered to the National Library in accordance with this section shall be a copy of the whole material (including any illustrations), be finished and coloured, and bound, sewed, stitched or otherwise fastened together, in the same manner as the best copies of that material are published and be on the best paper on which that material is printed.
(3.) When any library material is delivered to the National Library in accordance with this section, the National Librarian shall cause a written receipt for the material to be given to the publisher of the material.
(4.) This section is not intended to exclude or limit the operation of any law of a State or Territory of the Commonwealth (whether made before or after the commencement of this Act) that makes provision for or in relation to the delivery to a specified public or other library in or of the State or Territory of copies of library material published in the State or Territory.
(5.) In this section—
- “illustrations” includes drawings, engravings and photographs;
- “library material” means a book, periodical, newspaper, pamphlet, sheet of letter-press, sheet of music, map, plan, chart or table, being a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or an edition of such a work, but does not include a second or later edition of any material unless that edition contains additions or alterations in the letter-press or in the illustrations.
Groundless threats of legal proceedings. 202.—(1.) Where a person, by means of circulars, advertisements or otherwise, threatens a person with an action or proceeding in respect of an infringement of copyright, then, whether the person making the threats is or is not the owner of the copyright or an exclusive licensee, a person aggrieved may bring an action against the first-mentioned person and may obtain a declaration to the effect that the threats are unjustifiable, and an injunction against the continuance of the threats, and may recover such damages (if any) as he has sustained, unless the first-mentioned person satisfies the court that the acts in respect of which the action or proceeding was threatened constituted, or, if done, would constitute, an infringement of copyright.
(2.) The mere notification of the existence of a copyright does not constitute a threat of an action or proceeding within the meaning of this section.
(3.) Nothing in this section renders a barrister or solicitor of the High Court, or of the Supreme Court of a State or Territory of the Commonwealth, liable to an action under this section in respect of an act done by him in his professional capacity on behalf of a client.
(4.) The defendant in an action under this section may apply, by way of counterclaim, for relief to which he would be entitled in a separate action in respect of an infringement by the plaintiff of the copyright to which the threats relate and, in any such case, the provisions of this Act with respect to an action for infringement of a copyright are, mutatis mutandis, applicable in relation to the action.
(5.) A reference in this section to an action in respect of an infringement of copyright shall be read as including a reference to an action in respect of the conversion or detention of an infringing copy or of a plate used or intended to be used for making infringing copies.
Limitation on power of courts to grant relief in proceedings under this Act. 203. Nothing in this Act authorizes a State court or a court of a Territory to grant relief by way of injunction or account of profits if that court would not, apart from this Act, have power to grant such relief.