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Copyright Act 1994

Description, ownership, and duration of copyright - Crown copyright

27: No copyright in certain works

You could also call this:

"Some government works are not protected by copyright"

Illustration for Copyright Act 1994

You do not own copyright to some works. These works include Bills, Acts, and regulations. They also include the New Zealand Parliamentary Debates and court judgments. You do not own Crown copyright to some works. This applies to works where the Crown copyright has not been assigned to another person. It also applies to works that are incorporated by reference in other works. There is an exception for New Zealand Standards, as defined in the Standards and Accreditation Act 2015. This exception means that subsection 1A does not affect copyright in New Zealand Standards. Some works are incorporated by reference in other works. In these cases, nothing in subsection 1 affects copyright in the incorporated work, except as specified in subsection 1A. You can find more information about publication requirements in Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM345939.

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Topics:
Intellectual property > Copyright
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"Copyright rules for work made for the government"

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

27No copyright in certain works

  1. No copyright exists in any of the following works, whenever those works were made:

  2. any Bill introduced into the House of Representatives:
    1. any Act:
      1. any regulations:
          1. the New Zealand Parliamentary Debates:
            1. reports of select committees laid before the House of Representatives:
              1. judgments of any court or tribunal:
                1. reports of Royal commissions, commissions of inquiry, ministerial inquiries, or statutory inquiries; or
                  1. reports of any inquiry established under section 6 of the Inquiries Act 2013.

                    1. No Crown copyright exists in any work, whenever that work was made,—

                    2. in which the Crown copyright has not been assigned to another person; and
                      1. that is incorporated by reference in a work referred to in subsection (1).

                        1. Except as specified in subsection (1A), nothing in subsection (1) affects copyright in any work that is incorporated by reference in a work referred to in subsection (1).

                        2. Subsection (1A) does not affect copyright in any New Zealand Standard (as that term is defined in the Standards and Accreditation Act 2015).

                        3. Subsection (1) shall come into force on a date to be appointed by the Governor-General by Order in Council; and 1 or more Orders in Council may be made appointing different dates for different paragraphs of that subsection.

                        4. An order under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

                        Notes
                        • Section 27(1): brought into force, on , by the Copyright Act Commencement Order 2000 (SR 2000/245).
                        • Section 27(1)(b): replaced, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).
                        • Section 27(1)(d): repealed, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).
                        • Section 27(1)(h): amended, on , by section 39 of the Inquiries Act 2013 (2013 No 60).
                        • Section 27(1)(i): inserted, on , by section 39 of the Inquiries Act 2013 (2013 No 60).
                        • Section 27(1A): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Copyright Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 33).
                        • Section 27(1B): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Copyright Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 33).
                        • Section 27(1C): inserted, on , by section 44(2) of the Standards and Accreditation Act 2015 (2015 No 91).
                        • Section 27(3): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).