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Copyright Act 1994

Acts permitted in relation to copyright works

43: Research or private study

You could also call this:

"Using copyright works for your own research or study"

Illustration for Copyright Act 1994

You can use a copyright work for research or private study without infringing copyright. This means you can copy a work for your own research or study. When a court decides if copying is fair, it looks at things like the purpose of the copying and the effect on the work's value. You can copy a work for research or private study, but you must not make more than one copy at a time. However, some copies, like those made when you browse the internet, are not included in this rule, and section 43A applies to these. The court considers factors like whether you could have bought the work at a normal price and how much of the work you copied. If you copy a work for research or private study, you are allowed to do so as long as it is fair. The court's decision on what is fair will depend on the specific circumstances. You should be aware of the rules around copying for research or private study to ensure you are not infringing copyright.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM345962.

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42: Criticism, review, and news reporting, or

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

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43A: Transient reproduction of work, or

"Temporary copying of a work is okay if it's part of a legal process"

Part 3Acts permitted in relation to copyright works

43Research or private study

  1. Fair dealing with a work for the purposes of research or private study does not infringe copyright in the work.

  2. For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that fair dealing with a published edition for the purposes of research or private study does not infringe copyright in either the typographical arrangement of the edition or any literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work or part of a work in the edition.

  3. In determining, for the purposes of subsection (1), whether copying, by means of a reprographic process or by any other means, constitutes fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, a court shall have regard to—

  4. the purpose of the copying; and
    1. the nature of the work copied; and
      1. whether the work could have been obtained within a reasonable time at an ordinary commercial price; and
        1. the effect of the copying on the potential market for, or value of, the work; and
          1. where part of a work is copied, the amount and substantiality of the part copied taken in relation to the whole work.

            1. This section does not authorise the making of more than 1 copy of the same work, or the same part of a work, on any one occasion, but in this subsection copy does not include a non-infringing transient reproduction to which section 43A applies.

            Compare
            • 1962 No 33 ss 19(1), (5), 20(1)
            Notes
            • Section 43(4): substituted, on , by section 23 of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 27).