You come across a work with unknown authorship when you do not know who wrote it. If many people wrote the work together, it is of unknown authorship if you do not know who any of them are. You cannot find out who the author is even if you try really hard to discover their identity. You can find out who the author is by asking questions or searching for information. If you find out who the author is, you cannot say you do not know who they are anymore. This is how you decide if a work has unknown authorship for the purposes of the Copyright Act 1994.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM345902.

This page was last updated on 3 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Intellectual property > CopyrightArts and culture > Heritage protection

6: Meaning of work of joint authorship, or

"What is a work created by multiple authors?"

8: Meaning of copyright owner, or

"Who is considered the owner of a copyright?"

7Meaning of unknown authorship

For the purposes of this Act, a work is of unknown authorship if the identity of the author is unknown or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, if the identity of none of the authors is known.
For the purposes of this Act, the identity of an author shall be regarded as unknown if it is not possible for a person who wishes to ascertain the identity of the author to do so by reasonable inquiry; but if that identity is once known it shall not subsequently be regarded as unknown.

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1962 No 33 s 11(3), (4)