Copyright law is all about the balance between protecting creators' rights and ensuring users have access to intellectual and creative content. The law attempts to achieve this balance in a variety of ways, such as limiting the period of copyright protection, excluding some types of documents from copyright protection, and by allowing exceptions from infringement in certain cases.
The legal exceptions from infringement are often called “copyright exceptions” or “permitted uses”. These are found in
Part 3 of the Copyright Act 1994, and can be summarised as:
- Fair dealing: this exception applies to users engaged in news reporting, criticism, writing reviews, research or private study. The fair dealing exceptions are explored further in the “Fair Dealing” fact sheet.
- Exceptions for certain institutions or users: these are limited exceptions that apply in the educational context, for libraries and archives, and in public administration.
- Exceptions for specific circumstances: there are a number of other exceptions that can also apply. These include:
- if the copying is “incidental” or “transient”, meaning that the copying was not deliberate.
- if a person does a public reading of a work (with acknowledgement of the author!).
- If a person takes a photo, or records in some other way, a building or public artwork.
Different exceptions in different countries
It’s important to know that the copyright exceptions in New Zealand can be different to other countries. In the United States there’s a concept called “fair use” that provides a defence for certain copyright uses without the owner’s permission. “Fair use” is far more flexible and open-ended than New Zealand’s “fair dealing” exception which only applies in certain situations as set out in the Copyright Act. Notably, New Zealand does not have a fair dealing exception for “satire and parody,” which many other countries, including the United States, have.
New Zealand law determines the rules that apply to use of copyright material in this country. Use of material outside New Zealand is governed by the copyright rules in the relevant country.
This means that if copyright in a New Zealand work is infringed in the United States, for example, the New Zealand copyright owner will be able to take action under the relevant United States law and will be entitled to the same protection as a United States copyright owner.