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Copyright Act 1994

Description, ownership, and duration of copyright - Description of copyright

15: Recording necessary for some works

You could also call this:

"Some works need to be written down or recorded to have copyright protection."

Illustration for Copyright Act 1994

You need to record a literary, dramatic, or musical work to have copyright. This means writing it down or recording it in some way. It does not matter who records the work or if the author agrees. You can record a work without the author's consent. This still allows copyright to exist for the work. However, there is a difference between the work and the record of the work. If someone else records your work, they may have copyright for their record. This is separate from the copyright for the original work. The original work's copyright is what matters in this case.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM345922.

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14: Copyright in original works, or

"What is copyright for new and original works?"

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16: Acts restricted by copyright, or

"What you can and can't do with someone else's copyrighted work"

Part 1Description, ownership, and duration of copyright
Description of copyright

15Recording necessary for some works

  1. Copyright does not exist in a literary or dramatic or musical work unless and until the work is recorded, in writing or otherwise.

  2. It is immaterial for the purposes of subsection (1) whether the work is recorded by or with the consent of the author.

  3. Where a work is not recorded by the author, the question whether copyright exists in the record, as distinct from the work recorded, is not affected by anything in subsection (1).