EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
COPYRIGHT REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
1983 NO 126
Section 249 of the Copyright Act 1968 (“the Act”) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters that are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Division 6 of Part III of the Act deals with the recording of musical works and the infringement of copyright and payment of royalties in relation to such works and in relation to literary or dramatic works words from which are contained in musical works. Paragraphs 55(1)(a) and 59(1)(d), in Division 6 of Part III, state, so far as is relevant:
“55. (1) Subject to this Division, the copyright in a musical work is not infringed by a person (in this section referred to as “the manufacturer”) who makes, in Australia, a record of the work if -
(a) a record of the work -
.........................................
.........................................
(iii) has previously been made in, or imported into, a country other than Australia for the purpose of retail sale, being a country that, at the time of the previous making or importation, was specified in the regulations to be a country in relation to which this Division applies,…………………; or
(iv) has previously been made in a country other than Australia for use in making other records for the purpose of retail sale, being a country that, at the time of the previous making, was specified in the regulations to be a country in relation to which this Division applies, ;
....................................................”.
“59.(1) Where -
(d) a record of the musical work in which those words, or words substantially the same as those words, were sung, or were spoken incidentally to or in association with the music -
....................................................
....................................................
(iii) has previously been made in, or imported into, a country other than Australia for the purpose of retail sale, being a country that, at the time of the previous making or importation, was specified in the regulations to be a country in relation to which this Division applies, ; or
(iv) has previously been made in a country other than Australia for use in making other records for the purpose of retail sale, being a country that, at the time of the previous making was specified in the regulations to be a country in relation to which this Division applies, ;
...........................................................
...........................................................
the making of the record does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the literary or dramatic work.”.
Regulation 6 of the Copyright Regulations states in sub-regulation (1) that, for the purposes of sub-paragraphs 55(1)(a)(iii) and (iv) and 59(1)(d)(iii) and (iv) of the Act, Division 6 of Part III applies in relation to each country that constitutes, or forms part of, the territory of a country specified in Schedule 8 to the Regulations. Sub-regulation 6(2) sets out various areas that are deemed to form part of the territory of certain specified countries.
New regulation 1 amends sub-regulation 6(2) by adding, omitting or substituting references to various areas. This has been done to ensure consistency with the Berne Union and the Universal Copyright Convention, the countries of which those areas are deemed to form part being members of one or both of those Conventions.
Section 183 of the Act enables the Commonwealth or a State, or a person authorized by the Commonwealth or a State, to do acts comprised in the copyright in a work or other subject matter without infringing copyright, if the acts are done for the services of the Commonwealth or State (sub-section 183(1)). It is a requirement of section 183 that a copyright owner be informed, as prescribed, of the doing of an act comprised in his copyright, unless it appears to the Commonwealth or State that it would be contrary to the public interest to do so (sub-section 183(4)).
For the purposes of sub-section 183(4), details as to how an owner is to be informed are set out in regulation 25 of the Copyright Regulations. Prior to this amendment sub-regulations 25(2) to (4) required that the owner of a copyright be informed by the serving of a notice on the owner or, where the name or address of the owner was not known, by the publication of a notice in the Commonwealth or State Gazette, as the case may be. New regulation 2, in paragraph (a), replaces those sub-regulations to permit service of a notice on an authorized agent of the owner, as an alternative to service on the owner.
Sub-regulation 25(5) set out particulars to be contained in a notice under regulation 25. New regulation 2, in paragraph (b), amends sub-regulation 25(5) so that the work is identified by reference to its International Standard Book Number, if it has one.
Schedule 8, read in conjunction with sub-regulation 6(1), lists those countries to which Division 6 of Part III of the Act applies. New regulation 3 amends the Schedule to correct the spelling of certain names and includes or removes others. The Schedule reflects the current membership of the Berne Union and the Universal Copyright Convention.