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• Intellectual Property Policy

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• Commissioning Rule & Contracts

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• Cabinet Paper
• Discussion Paper

The government is considering 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. The submissions raised a number of issues in relation to the commissioning rule. Those issues will be further explored by the Ministry and will include talking to interested stakeholders. It was proposed to provide final policy advice on these issues by March 2007. In light of the introduction of the Copyright Amendment Bill this timeframe has been extended to the end of August to ensure that stakeholders have sufficient time to fully consider the issues raised by the Bill and have input into the Select Committee process.

For further information, contact copyrightact@med.govt.nz.

• Submissions
  The Ministry received 70 submissions on the Discussion Paper: The Commissioning Rule, Contracts and the Copyright Act 1994.
• Cabinet Paper - Copyright, Commissioning and Contracts: Report Back on Discussion Paper Submissions  [ Published 20 October 2006 ]
  This paper provides a summary of the submissions and seeks agreement to the preparation of a further paper for targeted consultation with interested stakeholders. The recommendations in this paper were subsequently agreed by Cabinet.
• The Commissioning Rule, Contracts and the Copyright Act 1994: A Discussion Paper  [ Published 31 March 2006 ]
  This discussion paper reviews the issue of ownership of copyright in commissioned works and the relationship between copyright law and contract law.