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Copyright Act 1994

Description, ownership, and duration of copyright - Crown copyright

28: Copyright vesting in certain international organisations

You could also call this:

"International organisations own copyright for works created for them"

Illustration for Copyright Act 1994

When you create a work for an international organisation, the organisation owns the copyright. You can find more information about this in section 17(1). The organisation's copyright lasts for a certain amount of time. The copyright lasts for 25 years for some works and 50 years for others. You can find out when the copyright ends by looking at when the work was made. The Governor-General can decide which organisations this rule applies to. The Governor-General can also decide how long the copyright lasts for certain organisations. You can learn more about this in Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019. This helps international organisations own and protect their copyright in New Zealand.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM345941.

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Topics:
Business > Intellectual property
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Part 1Description, ownership, and duration of copyright
Crown copyright

28Copyright vesting in certain international organisations

  1. Where an original work (being a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work or a film) is made by an officer or employee of, or is published by, an international organisation to which this section applies,—

  2. the work qualifies for copyright notwithstanding section 17(1); and
    1. the organisation is the first owner of any copyright in the work.

      1. The copyright of an international organisation under this section shall expire,—

      2. in the case of a typographical arrangement of a published edition, at the end of the period of 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work is made or such longer period as may be specified for the purposes of this paragraph pursuant to subsection (5):
        1. in the case of any other work, at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work is made or such longer period as may be specified for the purposes of this paragraph pursuant to subsection (5).

          1. Subject to this section and to any other express provision of this Act, the provisions of this Act apply in relation to the copyright of an international organisation under this section.

          2. An international organisation to which this section applies shall be deemed to have, and to have had at all material times, the legal capacities of a body corporate for the purposes of holding, dealing with, and enforcing copyright and in connection with all legal proceedings relating to copyright.

          3. The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council,—

          4. declare that any international organisation is an international organisation to which this section applies:
            1. for the purposes of complying with any international obligation of New Zealand, specify a period for the purposes of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of subsection (2).

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

              Compare
              • 1962 No 33 s 50
              Notes
              • Section 28(6): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).