Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act, 1927

Definitions and interpretation.

177.—(1) In this Part of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“Literary work” includes maps, charts, plans, tables, and compilations;

“Dramatic work” includes any piece for recitation, choreographic work, or entertainment in dumb show the scenic arrangement or acting form of which is fixed in writing or otherwise, and any cinematograph production where the arrangement or acting form or the combination of incidents represented give the work an original character;

“Artistic work” includes works of painting, drawing, sculpture, and artistic craftsmanship, and architectural works of art and engravings and photographs;

“Work of sculpture” includes casts and models;

“Architectural work of art” means any building or structure having an artistic character or design, in respect of such character or design, or any model for such building or structure, provided that the protection afforded by this Act shall be confined to the artistic character and design, and shall not extend to processes or methods of construction;

“Engravings” include etchings, lithographs, wood-cuts, prints, and other similar works, not being photographs;

“Photograph” includes photo-lithograph and any work produced by any process analogous to photography;

“Cinematograph” includes any work produced by any process analogous to cinematography;

“Collective work” means—

(a) an encyclopaedia, dictionary, year book, or similar work, and

(b) a newspaper, review, magazine, or similar periodical, and

(c) any work written in distinct parts by different authors, or in which works or parts of works of different authors are incorporated;

“Infringing” when applied to a copy of a work in which copyright subsists, means any copy, including any colourable imitation, made, or imported in contravention of the provisions of this Act;

“Performance” means any acoustic representation of a work and any visual representation of any dramatic action in a work, including such a representation made by means of any mechanical instrument;

“Delivery” in relation to a lecture, includes delivery by means of any mechanical instrument;

“Plate” includes any stereotype or other plate, stone, block, mould, matrix, transfer, or negative used or intended to be used for printing or reproducing copies of any work, and any matrix or other appliance by which records, perforated rolls or other contrivances for the acoustic representation of the work are or are intended to be made;

“Lecture” includes address, speech, and sermon.

(2) For the purposes of this Part of this Act (other than those relating to infringements of copyright), a work shall not be deemed to be published or performed in public, and a lecture shall not be deemed to be delivered in public, if published, performed in public, or delivered in public, without the consent or acquiescence of the author, his executors, administrators, or assigns.

(3) For the purposes of this Part of this Act, a work shall be deemed to be first published within Saorstát Eireann, notwithstanding that it has been published simultaneously in some other place, unless the publication in Saorstát Eireann is colourable only and is not intended to satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public, and a work shall be deemed to be published simultaneously in two places if the time between the publication in one such place and the publication in the other place does not exceed fourteen days, or such longer period as may for the time being be fixed by order of the Executive Council.

(4) Where, in the case of an unpublished work, the making of the work has extended over a considerable period, the conditions of this Part of this Act conferring copyright shall be deemed to have been complied with if the author was during any substantial part of that period a citizen of Saorstát Eireann or a resident within Saorstát Eireann.

(5) For the purposes of the provisions of this Part of this Act as to residence, an author of a work shall be deemed to be a resident in Saorstát Eireann if he is domiciled in Saorstát Eireann, and to be resident in any other state or country if he is domiciled in that state or country.