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Copyright Act 1994

Dealing with rights in copyright works - Moral rights

119: Transmission of moral rights on death

You could also call this:

"What happens to your moral rights when you die"

Illustration for Copyright Act 1994

When you die, the moral rights you have pass to someone else. You can choose who gets these rights in your will. If you do not say who gets the rights, they might pass to the person who gets the copyright. If the copyright is shared between people, the moral rights are shared too. When more than one person gets the moral rights, they can make decisions together. What one person decides can affect the others. If someone agreed to something before you died, that agreement still applies to the people who get your moral rights. If someone does something wrong with your work after you die, your personal representatives can take action. Any money they get from this action is part of your estate.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM346284.

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Part 5Dealing with rights in copyright works
Moral rights

119Transmission of moral rights on death

  1. On the death of a person entitled to the right conferred by section 94 or section 98 or section 105,—

  2. the right passes to such person as he or she may by testamentary disposition specifically direct; or
    1. if there is no such direction but the copyright in the work in question forms part of the estate, the right passes to the person to whom the copyright passes; or
      1. if or to the extent that the right does not pass under paragraph (a) or paragraph (b), the right is exercisable by the personal representatives.

        1. Where—

        2. under subsection (1)(b) any right passes to the person to whom the copyright passes; and
          1. the copyright passes in part to one person and in part to another,—
              1. the right shall pass in the same manner as the copyright.

            1. Where under paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of subsection (1) a right becomes exercisable by more than 1 person,—

            2. in the case of the right conferred by section 94, the right may be asserted by any of those persons; and
              1. in the case of the right conferred by section 98 or section 105, the right is exercisable by each of those persons and is satisfied in relation to any of those persons if one of them consents to the treatment or act in question; and
                1. any waiver of the right in accordance with section 107 by one of those persons does not affect the rights of the others.

                  1. A consent or waiver previously given or made binds any person to whom a right passes under subsection (1).

                  2. Any infringement after a person's death of the right conferred by section 102 or section 103 or section 104 is actionable by his or her personal representatives.

                  3. Any damages recovered by personal representatives in respect of an infringement after the death of a person entitled to a right conferred by Part 4 shall devolve as part of the estate as if the right of action had existed and been vested in the person immediately before his or her death.