Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000

Chapter 12

Presumptions

Presumptions.

139.—(1) The presumptions specified in this section shall apply in any proceedings, whether civil or criminal, for infringement of the copyright in any work.

(2) Copyright shall be presumed to subsist in a work until the contrary is proved.

(3) Except as otherwise provided in this section, where the subsistence of the copyright in a work is proved or admitted, or is presumed under subsection (2), the plaintiff shall be presumed to be the owner or, as the case may be, the exclusive licensee of the copyright, until the contrary is proved.

(4) Where

(a) a name purporting to be that of the author of a work or of the owner or exclusive licensee of the copyright, as the case may be, appears on copies of the work, or

(b) a copy of a work bears or incorporates a statement, label or other mark indicating that a person is the author of the work or the owner or exclusive licensee of the copyright, as the case may be,

that name, statement, label or mark shall be admissible as evidence of the fact stated or indicated which shall be presumed to be correct, unless the contrary is proved.

(5) The person named or in respect of whom a statement, label or other mark appears on or is borne on or is incorporated in copies of a work in accordance with subsection (4) shall, unless the contrary is proved, be presumed not to have made the work—

(a) in the course of employment referred to in section 23 (1)(a),

(b) in the course of employment as an officer or employee of a prescribed international organisation referred to in section 196 ,

(c) in the course of employment as an officer or employee of the Government or of the State referred to in section 191 ,

(d) under the direction or control of either or both of the Houses of the Oireachtas referred to in section 193 , or

(e) in circumstances in which the copyright in the work is conferred on another person by an enactment referred to in section 23 (1)(d).

(6) Where a work purports to be a work of joint authorship, subsections (2), (3), (4) and (5) shall apply in relation to each person purporting to be one of the authors of the work.

(7) Where no name purporting to be that of the author of the work or of the owner or exclusive licensee of the copyright, as the case may be, appears on the work or where the work does not bear or incorporate a statement, label or other mark in accordance with subsection (4) and—

(a) the work qualifies for copyright protection by reference to the country, territory, state or area, in which it was first lawfully made available to the public, and

(b) (i) a name purporting to be that of the person who first lawfully made available to the public the work appears on copies of the work as first so made available, or

(ii) copies of the work bear or incorporate a statement, label or other mark indicating that a named person first lawfully made available to the public the work,

then, that named person shall be presumed to have been the author of the work or the owner or exclusive licensee of the copyright, as the case may be, at the time when the work was first lawfully made available to the public, unless the contrary is proved.

(8) Where the author of the work is dead or the identity of the author cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved—

(a) that the work is an original work, and

(b) that the claims made by the plaintiff as to the date on which the work was first lawfully made available to the public and as to the country, territory, state or area in which the work was first so made available are correct.

(9) The presumptions set out in subsections (2) to (8) shall apply to the same extent in any actions relating to an infringement which occurred before the date on which copies of a work were first lawfully made available to the public.