Copyright Act, 1963

Copyright in television broadcasts and sound broadcasts.

19.—(1) Copyright shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, subsist in every television broadcast and in every sound broadcast made by Radio Éireann from a place in the State.

(2) Copyright in a television broadcast and copyright in a sound broadcast shall continue to subsist until the end of the period of fifty years from the end of the year in which the broadcast is first made.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this Act, Radio Éireann shall be entitled to any copyright subsisting in a television broadcast and to any copyright subsisting in a sound broadcast made by Radio Éireann from a place in the State.

(4) In so far as a television broadcast or a sound broadcast is a repetition (whether the first or any subsequent repetition) of a television broadcast or a sound broadcast previously made by Radio Éireann from a place in the State, and is made by broadcasting material recorded on film, records or otherwise—

(a) copyright shall not subsist therein by virtue of this section if it is made after the end of the period of fifty years from the end of the year in which the previous broadcast was made; and

(b) if it is made before the end of that period, any copyright subsisting therein by virtue of this section shall cease to subsist therein at the end of that period.

(5) The acts restricted by the copyright in a television broadcast or a sound broadcast are—

(a) in the case of a television broadcast in so far as it consists of visual images, making, otherwise than for private purposes, a cinematograph film of it or part of it or a photograph of part of it or a copy of such film or photograph;

(b) in the case of a sound broadcast, or of a television broadcast in so far as it consists of sounds, making, otherwise than for private purposes, a sound recording of it, or a record embodying such a recording;

(c) in the case of a television broadcast, causing it, in so far as it consists of visual images, to be seen in public, or, in so far as it consists of sounds, to be heard in public, if it is seen or heard by a paying audience;

(d) in the case either of a television broadcast or a sound broadcast, rebroadcasting it.

(6) The restrictions imposed by virtue of subsection (5) of this section in relation to a television broadcast or a sound broadcast made by Radio Éireann shall apply whether the act in question is done by—

(a) the reception of the broadcast, or

(b) making use of any record, print, negative, tape, or other article on which the broadcast has been recorded.

(7) In relation to copyright in television broadcasts, in so far as they consist of visual images, the restrictions imposed by virtue of subsection (5) of this section in relation to a cinematograph film or a copy of such a film shall apply to any sequence of images sufficient to be seen as a moving picture; and accordingly, for the purpose of establishing an infringement of such copyright, it shall not be necessary to prove that the act in question extended to more than a sequence of images.

(8) For the purposes of subsection (5) of this section, a cinematograph film or a copy thereof, a photograph or a copy thereof, or a sound recording or a record embodying a recording, shall be taken to be made otherwise than for private purposes if it is made for the purposes of the doing by any person of any of the following acts, that is to say—

(a) the sale or letting for hire of any copy of the film or photograph, or, as the case may be, of any record embodying the recording;

(b) broadcasting the film, recording or photograph;

(c) causing the film, photograph or recording to be seen or heard in public.

(9) For the purposes of paragraph (c) of subsection (5) of this section, a television broadcast shall be taken to be seen or heard by a paying audience if it is seen or heard by persons who either—

(a) have been admitted for payment to the place where the broadcast is to be seen or heard, or have been admitted for payment to a place of which that place forms part, or

(b) have been admitted to the place where the broadcast is to be seen or heard in circumstances where goods or services are supplied there at prices which exceed the prices usually charged at that place and are partly attributable to the facilities afforded for seeing or hearing the broadcast.

(10) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of the immediately preceding subsection of this section no account shall be taken—

(a) of persons admitted to the place in question as residents or inmates therein, or

(b) of persons admitted to that place as members of a club or society, where the payment is only for membership of the club or society and the provision of facilities for seeing or hearing television broadcasts is only incidental to the main purposes of the club or society.

(11) Anything done in relation to a television broadcast or a sound broadcast for the purposes of a judicial proceeding does not constitute an infringement of the copyright subsisting in the broadcast.

(12) In this Act—

“television broadcast” means visual images broadcast by way of television, together with any sounds broadcast for reception along with those images;

“sound broadcast” means sounds broadcast otherwise than as part of a television broadcast.

(13) For the purposes of this Act, a television broadcast or a sound broadcast shall be taken to be made by the body by whom, at the time when, and from the place from which, the visual images or sounds in question, or both, as the case may be, are broadcast.