Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000

Houses of the Oireachtas: copyright.

193.—(1) Where a work is made by or under the direction or control of either or both of the Houses of the Oireachtas—

(a) the work qualifies for copyright protection notwithstanding the provisions relating to the requirements as to qualification for copyright protection specified in section 182 , and

(b) the House of the Oireachtas by whom, or under whose direction or control, the work is made shall be the first owner of any copyright in the work, and where the work is made by or under the direction or control of both Houses of the Oireachtas, each House shall be joint first owners of the copyright.

(2) The copyright in a work to which this section applies shall be known and in this Act referred to as “Oireachtas copyright”, notwithstanding that the copyright may be, or may have been, assigned to another person.

(3) Oireachtas copyright in a work shall expire 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was made.

(4) For the purposes of this section, works made by or under the direction or control of either or both of the Houses of the Oireachtas include—

(a) any work made by an officer or employee of either House of the Oireachtas in the course of his or her duties, and

(b) any sound recording, film, live broadcast or live cable programme of the proceedings of either House of the Oireachtas.

(5) In the case of a work of joint authorship where one or more but not all of the authors are acting on behalf of, or under the direction or control of either or both of the Houses of the Oireachtas, this section applies in relation to those authors and the copyright subsisting by virtue of their contribution to the work.

(6) Subject to subsections (1) to (5), this Part applies in relation to Oireachtas copyright as to other copyright.