The Commissioning Rule and the Copyright Act 1994
In 2006 the government considered two specific issues of copyright law, namely the provision of the Copyright Act 1994 that deals with commissioned works ("the commissioning rule") and the interface between copyright and contract law. As part of this, the Ministry released a discussion paper on 31 March 2006, and submissions were received up to 31 May 2006. Submissions did not indicate a need to take further action on the relationship between contract and copyright law, however a number of issues were raised in relation to the commissioning rule. Those issues were further explored by the Ministry by way of a consultation paper ("The Commissioning Rule and the Copyright Act 1994") which was released in July 2007 to targeted stakeholders including representative industry organisations, legal professionals and other organisations or interested individuals. 17 submissions were received. Final policy advice on these issues was provided to Cabinet in December 2007.
The Copyright (Commissioning Rule) Amendment Bill to repeal the commissioning rule, section 21(3) of the Copyright Act 1994, was introduced into the House of Representatives on 13 May 2008.
In May 2009 the Bill was withdrawn by the Government after it was considered that the Bill did not fit within the Government’s priorities.
For further information, contact copyrightact@med.govt.nz.
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Archived information relating to the Commissioning Rule and the Copyright Act 1994.
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