Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000

Qualification by reference to author.

183.—(1) A work shall qualify for copyright protection where the author was at the material time a qualifying person.

(2) For the purposes of this Part, a qualifying person shall be—

(a) an Irish citizen;

(b) a citizen or subject of, or an individual domiciled or ordinarily resident in the State, or in any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provisions of this Part extend;

(c) a body incorporated under the law of the State or of any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provisions of this Part extend;

(d) a partnership or unincorporated body formed under the law of the State or of any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provisions of this Part extend; or

(e) any other body in the State or of any country, territory, state or area to which the relevant provisions of this Part extend.

(3) Where provision is made by order under section 188 , a work shall also qualify for copyright protection where at the material time the author was—

(a) a citizen or subject of, or an individual domiciled or ordinarily resident in a country, territory, state or area to which the order relates;

(b) a body incorporated under the law of a country, territory, state or area to which the order relates;

(c) a partnership or unincorporated body formed under the law of any country, territory, state or area to which the order relates; or

(d) any other body in any country, territory, state or area to which the order relates.

(4) Subject to subsection (5), a work of joint authorship shall qualify for copyright protection where at the material time any of the authors satisfies the requirements specified in subsection (1), (2) or (3).

(5) Where a work of joint authorship qualifies for copyright protection only under this section, only those authors who satisfy those requirements shall be taken into account for the purposes of—

(a) section 23 (1)(a) (first ownership of copyright; entitlement of author or author's employer);

(b) section 24 (duration of copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or an original database); and

(c) section 88 (anonymous and pseudonymous works; acts permitted), with reference to section 2 (definition of “anonymous work” and definition of “pseudonymous work”), section 2 (7) and (8) (deemer of authorship to be known), and section 33 (expiry of copyright).

(6) The material time in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or an original database, shall be—

(a) in the case of a work which has not been lawfully made available to the public, when the work was made or, where the making of the work extended over a period, a substantial part of that period; or

(b) in the case of a work which has been lawfully made available to the public, when the work was first lawfully made available to the public or, where the author had died before that time, immediately before his or her death.

(7) The material time in relation to other descriptions of work shall be as follows:

(a) in the case of sound recording or film, when the sound recording or film was made;

(b) in the case of a broadcast, when the broadcast was made;

(c) in the case of a cable programme, when the programme was first lawfully included in a cable programme service;

(d) in the case of the typographical arrangement of a published edition, when the edition was first lawfully made available to the public.