Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

COPYRIGHT ACT 1968 - SECT 219

  (1)   The copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work that has been published before the commencement of this Act is not infringed by the reproduction of the work for sale if:

  (a)   the reproduction takes place at a time after the expiration of twenty - five years, or, in the case of a work in which copyright subsisted at the commencement of the Copyright Act, 1911, after the expiration of thirty years, after the date of the death of the author; and

  (b)   the person reproducing the work establishes:

  (i)   that, before the commencement of this Act, he or she gave the notice in writing of his or her intention to reproduce the work that was prescribed for the purposes of the proviso to section   3 of the Copyright Act, 1911; and

  (ii)   that he or she has paid, in the manner that was prescribed for the purposes of that proviso, or is prescribed for the purposes of this section, as the case may be, to, or for the benefit of, the owner of the copyright royalties in respect of all copies of the work sold by him or her calculated at the rate of ten per centum of the price at which he or she published the reproduction.

  (2)   The regulations may make provision for or in relation to the manner in which, and the times at which, payment of royalties is to be made for the purposes of subparagraph   (ii) of paragraph   (b) of the last preceding subsection and may include provision requiring payment in advance, or otherwise securing the payment of the royalties.

  (3)   Regulations   38 to 42, inclusive, of the Copyright Regulations as in force under the Copyright Act 1912 - 1966 immediately before the commencement of this Act continue in force for the purposes of this section as if they had been made under this Act, but may be amended or repealed by regulations made under this Act.

  (4)   A reference in paragraph   (1)(a) to a time after the expiration of a specified number of years from the date of the death of the author of a work shall, in the case of a work of joint authorship, be read as a reference to a time after:

  (a)   the expiration of the same number of years from the date of the death of the author who died first; or

  (b)   the date of the death of the author who died last;

whichever is the later.

  (5)   Where a literary, dramatic or musical work, or an engraving, in which copyright subsisted at the date of the death of the author or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, at or immediately before the date of the death of the author who died last:

  (a)   had not been published;

  (b)   in the case of a dramatic or musical work--had not been performed in public; and

  (c)   in the case of a lecture--had not been delivered in public;

before that date, subsection   (1) applies as if the author had died on the date on which:

  (d)   in the case of a literary work (other than a lecture) or an engraving--the work was first published;

  (e)   in the case of a dramatic or musical work--the work was first published or first performed in public, whichever first happened; or

  (f)   in the case of a lecture--the lecture was first published or first delivered in public, whichever first happened.

  (6)   In this section, expressions that are defined by section   204 have the meanings respectively given to those expressions by that section and do not have the meanings, if any, respectively given to those expressions by Part   II.