Commons:Copyright rules by territory/New Zealand

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Copyright rules: New Zealand
Shortcut: COM:NEW ZEALAND
Flag of New Zealand
Map of New Zealand
Durations
Standard Life + 50 years
Anonymous Create/publish + 50 years
Audiovisual Create/publish + 50 years
Government Create/publish + 100 years
Applied art Create + 25 years
Other
Terms run to year end Yes
Common licence tags {{PD-New Zealand}}
{{PD-NZ-exempt}}
{{PD-Cook Islands}}
{{PD-Niue}}
ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 NZL
Treaties
Berne convention 24 April 1928
WTO member 1 January 1995
URAA restoration date‌* 1 January 1996
*‌A work is usually protected in the US if it is a type of work copyrightable in the US, published after 1926 and protected in the country of origin on the URAA date.

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of New Zealand relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in New Zealand must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both New Zealand and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from New Zealand, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

Governing laws

New Zealand has been a member of the Berne Convention since 24 April 1928 and the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995, as well as a signatory to various other international treaties.[1]

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed various acts including the Copyright Act 1994 (reprint as at 1 March 2017) as the main IP laws enacted by the legislature of New Zealand.[1] WIPO holds the text of the 1994 act in their WIPO Lex database.[2] The New Zealand Legislation holds a copy of the 1994 Act as of 30 December 2018, with a warning that some amendments have not yet been incorporated.[3]

The Copyright Act 1962 of New Zealand may apply on the Cook Islands and Niue, two self-governing states in free association with New Zealand.[4]

General rules

Under the New Zealand Copyright Act of 1994 as of 30 December 2018,

  • Subject to the following provisions of this section, copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies.[1994-2018 Sec.22(1)]
  • If the work is computer-generated, copyright expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work is made.[1994-2018 Sec.22(2)]
  • If the work is of unknown authorship, copyright expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which it is first made available to the public by an authorised act.[1994-2018 Sec.22(3)]
  • In relation to a work of joint authorship, the reference in subsection (1) to the death of the author shall be construed ... as a reference to the death of the last of the authors whose identity is known.[1994-2018 Sec.22(6)]
  • Copyright in a sound recording or film expires (a) at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work is made; or (b) if it is made available to the public by an authorised act before the end of that period, 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which it is so made available.[1994-2018 Sec.23(1)]
  • Copyright in a communication work expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the communication work is first communicated to the public.[1994-2018 Sec.24(1)]
  • Copyright in a typographical arrangement of a published edition expires at the end of the period of 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the edition is first published.[1994-2018 Sec.25]

Government works

Under the New Zealand Copyright Act of 1994 as of 30 December 2018,

  • Where a work is made by a person employed or engaged by the Crown ... the Crown is the first owner of any copyright in the work.[1994-2018 Sec.26(1)]
  • Crown copyright shall expire ... at the end of the period of 100 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work is made.[1994-2018 Sec.26(3b)]
  • Some government publications are not subject to copyright, including bills, acts, regulations, court judgments, royal commission and select committee reports, etc.[1994-2018 Sec.27]

Copyright tags

Shortcut

See also: Commons:Copyright tags

Currency

Shortcut

See also: Commons:Currency

OOjs UI icon close-ltr-destructive.svg Not OK New Zealand coins and notes are copyrighted by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. They note that "the Reserve Bank has no objection to reproducing our notes and coins as complete on-screen or printed images, typically for design, educational or illustrative purposes" but that "for intellectual property reasons we cannot grant permission to reproduce detail parts of these designs, and in particular that: (1) The ‘Pukaki’ image on the 20 cent coin is owned by Ngati Whakaue, used with permission by the Reserve Bank; (2) The image of H.M. The Queen on the obverse of our coins is owned by The Crown." This amounts to a restriction on derivative works, making the designs not appropriate for Commons.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand provides guidelines on using images of currency.[5]

Freedom of panorama

Shortcut

See also: Commons:Freedom of panorama

OOjs UI icon check-constructive.svg OK for 3D works {{FoP-New Zealand}}
OOjs UI icon check-constructive.svg OK for 2D "works of artistic craftsmanship" {{FoP-New Zealand}}
OOjs UI icon close-ltr-destructive.svg Not OK for 2D "graphic works"

Under the Copyright Act 1994 as of December 2018, Section 73,

  • This section applies to the following works: (a) buildings (b) works (being sculptures, models for buildings, or works of artistic craftsmanship) that are permanently situated in a public place or in premises open to the public.[1994-2018 Sec.73(1)]
  • Copyright in a work to which this section applies is not infringed by (a) copying the work by making a graphic work representing it; or (b) copying the work by making a photograph or film of it; or (c) communicating to the public a visual image of the work.[1994-2018 Sec.73(21)]
  • Copyright is not infringed by the issue to the public of copies, or the communication to the public, of anything the making of which was, under this section, not an infringement of copyright.[1994-2018 Sec.73(3)]

Copyright legislation in New Zealand also follows that of the United Kingdom. In the absence of any specific case law to the contrary it is reasonable to assume that the rules will be identical. See Commons:Copyright rules by territory/United Kingdom for more details.

Stamps

See also: Commons:Stamps

Copyrighted

In New Zealand, the Crown Copyright is defined by Sections 2(1), 26 et 27 of the 1994 Copyright Act. It lasts 100 years, with exceptions. It protects the work created by a person employed or engaged by the Crown, Ministers of the Crown, offices of Parliament and government departments. See Wikipedia:Crown copyright.

According to this law, images of New Zealand stamps are in the public domain :

  • 50 years after issue for stamps issued before 31 December 1944 (Template:PD-NZ-50-years on the Wikipedia in English). Use {{PD-NZ-50-years}}. All stamps from 1944 and before are thus in the Public Domain.
  • 100 years after issue for stamps issued between 1 January 1945 and the 31 March 1987 by the New Zealand Post Office as a Department of the Government. No stamps from 1945 onward will therefore become public domain before 1 January 2045.

Threshold of originality

Shortcut

See also: Commons:Threshold of originality

As stated in the New Zealand government's NZGOAL copyright guide (January 2015),

  • As the Court of Appeal has stated, the “threshold test for originality is not high”, the determining factor being “whether sufficient time, skill, labour, or judgment has been expended in producing the work”. The Court has also reiterated the axiom, or principle, that copyright is not concerned with the originality of ideas but with the form of their expression. A work is not original, however, if (a) it is, or to the extent that it is, a copy of another work; or (b) it infringes the copyright in, or to the extent that it infringes the copyright in, another work.[6]

See also

Citations

  1. ↑ a b New Zealand Copyright and Related Rights (Neighboring Rights)[1], WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization, 2018
  2. ↑ Copyright Act 1994 (reprint as at 1 March 2017)[2], New Zealand, 2017
  3. ↑ Reprint as at 30 December 2018 Copyright Act 1994. New Zealand Legislation. Retrieved on 2019-03-16.
  4. ↑ Copyright Act 1962. Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute. Retrieved on 2019-03-16.
  5. ↑ Using images of currency. Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Retrieved on 2019-03-16.
  6. ↑ NZGOAL copyright guide. New Zealand Government (January 2015). Retrieved on 2019-03-16.
Caution: The above description may be inaccurate, incomplete and/or out of date, so must be treated with caution. Before you upload a file to Wikimedia Commons you should ensure it may be used freely. See also: Commons:General disclaimer
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