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Copyright Act 1994

Acts permitted in relation to copyright works

41: Incidental copying of copyright work

You could also call this:

"Copying a small part of a work by accident is okay"

Illustration for Copyright Act 1994

You do not break copyright law if you incidentally copy a work in another work, like a film or sound recording. This means you can copy a work without permission if it is not the main part of what you are creating. You can also share your work with the public without breaking copyright law if it has an incidental copy of another work in it. You must not deliberately copy music or words with music from one work to another. If you do, it is not considered an incidental copy. This rule helps decide what is an incidental copy and what is not. If you incidentally copy a work in a sound recording, film, or communication work, you can share it with the public. This is allowed under the Copyright Act 1994, which is a law in New Zealand that protects people's creative work, as amended by the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008. You can find more information about this law and how it applies to you.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM345960.

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40: Provisions to be construed independently, or

"Each law rule is looked at separately"

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42: Criticism, review, and news reporting, or

"Using copyright works for criticism, reviews, and news without breaking the law"

Part 3Acts permitted in relation to copyright works

41Incidental copying of copyright work

  1. Copyright in a work is not infringed by—

  2. the incidental copying of the work in an artistic work, a sound recording, a film, or a communication work; or
    1. the issue to the public of copies of an artistic work, the playing of a sound recording, the showing of a film, or the communication of a work to the public, in which a copyright work has been incidentally copied; or
      1. the issue to the public of copies of a sound recording, film, or communication work to which paragraph (a) or (b) applies.

        1. For the purposes of subsection (1), a musical work, words spoken or sung with music, or so much of a sound recording or communication work as includes a musical work or those words, must not be regarded as incidentally copied in another work if the musical work or the words, sound recording, or communication work is deliberately copied.

        Notes
        • Section 41: substituted, on , by section 21 of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 27).