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Copyright Act 1994

Acts permitted in relation to copyright works - Literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic works

68: Use of recording of spoken words in certain cases

You could also call this:

"Using recordings of people talking for news or sharing with the public"

Illustration for Copyright Act 1994

When you record someone's spoken words, you might be able to use that recording without infringing copyright. This is allowed if you made the recording to report current events or to communicate the work to the public. You can use the recording or copy it and use the copy for that purpose, as long as you follow certain conditions. You must make sure the recording is a direct record of the spoken words and not taken from a previous recording. The speaker must not have prohibited the recording, and if copyright already existed, making the recording must not have infringed that copyright. You can only use the recording if the speaker or copyright owner did not prohibit that use before the recording was made, and you must be lawfully in possession of the recording or have the authority to use it.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM346210.

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Part 3Acts permitted in relation to copyright works
Literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic works

68Use of recording of spoken words in certain cases

  1. Where a recording of spoken words is made, in writing or otherwise, for the purpose of—

  2. reporting current events; or
    1. communicating to the public the whole or part of the work,—
        1. it is not an infringement of copyright in the words as a literary work to use the recording or material taken from it (or to copy the recording, or any such material, and use the copy) for that purpose, if the conditions in subsection (2) are complied with.

      1. The conditions referred to in subsection (1) are that—

      2. the recording is a direct record of the spoken words and is not taken from a previous recording or from a communication work; and
        1. the making of the recording was not prohibited by the speaker and, where copyright already existed in the work, did not infringe copyright; and
          1. the use made of the recording or material taken from it is not of a kind prohibited by or on behalf of the speaker or copyright owner before the recording was made; and
            1. the use is by or with the authority of a person who is lawfully in possession of the recording.

              Notes
              • Section 68(1)(b): amended, on , by section 39(1) of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 27).
              • Section 68(2)(a): amended, on , by section 39(2) of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 27).