Copyright Act 1994

Acts permitted in relation to copyright works - Communication works

83: Recording for purposes of complaining

You could also call this:

"Recording something to complain about, without breaking copyright law"

You do not break copyright law by recording or sharing a communication work if you do it to complain to a complaint authority. You must only keep the recording for as long as you need to make your complaint. If you keep it for longer, you might break copyright law and the recording could be seen as a copy that breaks the law. You can complain to a complaint authority about the content of communication works, including advertisements. A complaint authority is a person or body that deals with complaints about communication works. You can also look at section 84 to learn more about this. If you record something to complain, make sure you only keep it for a short time. This helps you avoid breaking copyright law. You can find more information about complaint authorities and how they work.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM346228.

This page was last updated on 3 December 2025 — View changes

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82: Recording for purposes of maintaining standards in programmes, or

"Recording your work to check it meets standards is allowed"

84: Recording for purposes of time shifting, or

"Recording TV shows for later, for you or your family, is allowed"

Part 3Acts permitted in relation to copyright works
Communication works

83Recording for purposes of complaining

A person (A) does not infringe copyright in a communication work, or in any work included in it, by recording it or communicating it or both to a complaint authority, if the recording or the communication or both are done solely for the purpose of complaining to a complaint authority.
However, subsection (1) does not apply, and A does infringe copyright in the communication work recorded and in any work included in the recording, if A retains the recording for any longer than is reasonably necessary to prepare and despatch the complaint.
If a person infringes copyright under subsection (2), the recording is treated as an infringing copy.
In this section and in section 84, complaint authority means any person or body that is responsible for dealing with complaints about the content of communication works, including the content of advertisements in communication works.

Notes

Section 83: substituted, on 31 October 2008, by section 45 of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 27).