Copyright Act 1994

Moral rights - False attribution

104: False representations as to artistic work

You could also call this:

"Stopping people from lying about your artistic work"

When you create an artistic work, you have rights to control how it is used. You do not want someone to change your work and say it is still the original. You also do not want someone to say a copy of your work is an original when it is not. If someone shows your work in public and says something about it that is not true, they are doing something wrong. This is also true if they give the public access to something with false information about your work. You can stop them from doing this because it is against your rights as the creator of the work. When someone is selling or giving out your work, they must not say things about it that are not true. If they know something they are saying is false, they are breaking the law. You have the right to stop them from doing this to protect your work. If someone does something wrong with your work on purpose, or if they let someone else do something wrong with it, they are breaking the law. This helps keep your work safe and makes sure people are honest about what they say about 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=DLM346261.

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

Topics:

Business > Intellectual propertyRights and equality > Anti-discrimination

103: False representation as to literary, dramatic, or musical work, or

"Stopping people from lying about your creative work"

105: Right to privacy of certain photographs and films, or

"Control who shares your private photos and videos"

Part 4Moral rights
False attribution

104False representations as to artistic work

In this section, the term representation means an express or implied statement as to a matter referred to in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) or paragraph (c) of subsection (2).
The author of an artistic work has the right—
not to have the work falsely represented as the unaltered work of the author if the work has been altered after the author parted with possession of the work; and
not to have a copy of a work that has been altered after the author parted with possession of the work falsely represented as a copy of an unaltered work of the author; and
not to have a copy of an artistic work falsely represented as being a copy made by the author of the artistic work.

The right conferred by subsection (2) is infringed by a person who exhibits in public an artistic work, or a copy of an artistic work, as the case may be, in or on which there is a false representation, knowing or having reason to believe that the representation is false.
The right conferred by subsection (2) is infringed by—
the issue to the public; or
the public display—

The right conferred by subsection (2) is infringed by a person who, in the course of a business,—
possesses an artistic work or a copy of an artistic work, as the case may be, in or on which there is a false representation or when there is a false representation in or on the work or copy; or
sells or lets for hire, offers or exposes for sale or hire, distributes, or exhibits in public an artistic work or a copy of an artistic work, as the case may be, in or on which there is a false representation or when there is a false representation in or on the work or copy,—

The right conferred by subsection (2) is infringed by a person who does an act described in this section or who authorises another person to do such an act.

Compare

1962 No 33 s 62(4), (6)