Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act, 1927
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Copyright in mechanical musical instruments. |
169.—(1) Copyright shall subsist in records, perforated rolls, and other contrivances by means of which sounds may be mechanically reproduced, in like manner as if such contrivances were musical works, but the term of copyright shall be fifty years from the making of the original plate from which the contrivance was directly or indirectly derived, and the person who was the owner of such original plate at the time when such plate was made shall be deemed to be the author of the work, and, where such owner is a body corporate, the body corporate shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to reside within Saorstát Eireann if it has established a place of business within Saorstát Eireann. | |
(2) It shall not be deemed to be an infringement of copyright in any musical work for any person to make within Saorstát Eireann records, perforated rolls, or other contrivances by means of which the work may be mechanically performed, if such person proves— | ||
(a) that such contrivances have previously been made by, or with the consent or acquiescence of, the owner of the copyright in the work; and | ||
(b) that he has given the prescribed notice of his intention to make the contrivances, and has paid in the prescribed manner to, or for the benefit of, the owner of the copyright in the work royalties in respect of all such contrivances sold by him, calculated at the rate hereinafter mentioned: | ||
Provided that— | ||
(i) nothing in this provision shall authorise any alterations in, or omissions from, the work reproduced, unless contrivances reproducing the work subject to similar alterations and omissions have been previously made by, or with the consent or acquiescence of, the owner of the copyright, or unless such alterations or omissions are reasonably necessary for the adaptation of the work to the contrivances in question; and | ||
(ii) for the purposes of this provision, a musical work shall be deemed to include any words so closely associated therewith as to form part of the same work, but shall not be deemed to include a contrivance by means of which sounds may be mechanically reproduced. | ||
(3) The rate at which such royalties as aforesaid are to be calculated shall be five per cent. on the ordinary retail selling price of the contrivance calculated in the prescribed manner, so, however, that the royalty payable in respect of a contrivance shall, in no case, be less than a halfpenny for each separate musical work in which copyright subsists reproduced thereon, and, where the royalty calculated as aforesaid includes a fraction of a farthing, such fraction shall be reckoned as a farthing: | ||
Provided that, if, at any time after the expiration of seven years from the commencement of this Part of this Act, it appears to the Minister that such rate as aforesaid is no longer equitable, the Minister may, after holding a public inquiry, make an order either decreasing or increasing that rate to such an extent as in the circumstances may seem just, but any order so made shall be provisional only and shall not have any effect unless and until confirmed by a resolution passed by each House of the Oireachtas; but, where an order revising the rate has been so made and confirmed, no further revision shall be made before the expiration of fourteen years from the date of the last revision. | ||
(4) If any such contrivance is made reproducing two or more different works in which copyright subsists and the owners of the copyright therein are different persons, the sums payable by way of royalties under this section shall be apportioned amongst the several owners of the copyright in such proportions as, failing agreement, may be determined by arbitration. | ||
(5) When any such contrivances by means of which a musical work may be mechanically performed have been made, then, for the purposes of this section, the owner of the copyright in the work shall, in relation to any person who makes the appointed inquiries, be deemed to have given his consent to the making of such contrivances if he fails to reply to such inquiries within the appointed time. | ||
(6) For the purposes of this section, the Minister may make regulations appointing anything which under this section is to be appointed, and appointing the mode in which notices are to be given and the particulars to be given in such notices, and the mode, time, and frequency of the payment of royalties, and any such regulations may, if the Minister thinks fit, include regulations requiring payment in advance or otherwise securing the payment of royalties. | ||
(7) In the case of musical works published before the first day of July 1912 the foregoing provisions shall have effect, subject to the following modifications and additions:— | ||
(a) the conditions as to the previous making by, or with the consent or acquiescence of, the owner of the copyright in the work, and the restrictions as to alterations in or omissions from the work, shall not apply; | ||
(b) the rate of two and one-half per cent. shall be substituted for the rate of five per cent. as the rate at which royalties are to be calculated; | ||
(c) notwithstanding any assignment made before the 16th day of December, 1911, of the copyright in a musical work, any rights conferred by the Copyright Act, 1911 , or by this Act in respect of the making, or authorising the making, of contrivances by means of which the work may be mechanically performed shall belong to the author or his legal personal representatives and not to the assignee, and the royalties aforesaid shall be payable to, and for the benefit of, the author of the work or his legal personal representatives; | ||
(d) where the work is a work on which copyright is conferred by an order under this Part of this Act relating to a British dominion or a foreign country, the copyright so conferred shall not, except to such extent as may be provided by the order, include any rights with respect to the making of records, perforated rolls, or other contrivances by means of which the work may be mechanically performed. | ||
(8) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, where a record, perforated roll, or other contrivance by means of which sounds may be mechanically reproduced has been made before the commencement of this Part of this Act, copyright shall, as from such commencement, subsist therein in like manner and for the like term as if this Part of this Act had been in force at the date of the making of the original plate from which the contrivance was directly or indirectly derived: | ||
Provided that— | ||
(i) the person who, at the commencement of this Part of this Act, is the owner of such original plate shall be the first owner of such copyright; and | ||
(ii) nothing in this provision shall be construed as conferring copyright in any such contrivance if the making thereof would have infringed copyright in some other such contrivance, if this provision had been in force at the time of the making of the first-mentioned contrivance. |