Section 17 of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 fixes how long protection lasts. Note at the outset that it governs both the economic and the moral rights.
Section 17 — the five rules
| Work | Term | Subsection |
|---|---|---|
| A work generally | The life of the author and 50 years from the date of his death | 17(1) |
| A work of joint authorship | The life of the author and 50 years from the date of his death | 17(2) |
| A collective work (other than a work of applied art) and an audiovisual work | 50 years from the date the work was made, first made available to the public, or first published — whichever occurs last | 17(3) |
| A work published anonymously or under a pseudonym | The same 50 years from making, availability or publication, whichever is last — unless the author’s identity is revealed or is no longer in doubt before that period expires, when subsection (1) or (2) applies instead | 17(4) |
| A work of applied art | 25 years from the making of the work | 17(5) |
Subsections (1) and (2) — life plus 50
The economic and moral rights shall be protected during the life of the author and for a period of 50 years from the date of his death — and, in the case of a work of joint authorship, in the same terms.
Subsection (2) applies the same measure to a work of joint authorship — a work two or more authors contributed to that does not qualify as a collective work. Read with section 18(2), under which co-authors are co-owners of the economic rights unless the parts can be used separately and each author identified, the practical course for a jointly authored work is to record clearly who contributed what, and when each author died.
Note that the term runs from the date of death, not from the end of the calendar year of death. That differs from the neighbouring rights below, which run to the end of a calendar year.
Subsection (3) — collective and audiovisual works
50 years from the date on which the work was made, first made available to the public or first published — whichever occurs last.
The three events are alternatives, and the clock starts from the latest of them. A film made in one year, first shown two years later and published on disc five years after that is protected for 50 years from the publication.
This rule is necessary because these works have no single natural life to measure against. A collective work is by definition one where the identity of the contributing persons shall not be indicated (s 2), and an audiovisual work typically has a corporate producer as first owner under section 18(5).
Note the carve-out: a collective work that is a work of applied art falls under subsection (5) instead, with its shorter 25-year term.
Subsection (4) — anonymous and pseudonymous works
The same 50 years from making, first availability or first publication, whichever is last — provided that where the author’s identity is revealed or is no longer in doubt before the expiration of that period, subsection (1) or (2) applies instead.
So an author who publishes under a pseudonym — exercising the moral right in section 7(1)(c) — may later reveal their identity and convert the term to life plus 50. The identity must emerge before the anonymous term expires; once the work has fallen into the public domain, a later revelation does not revive it.
This works with section 19(3), under which the publisher named on an anonymous or pseudonymous work is presumed to represent the author — a presumption that ceases to apply when the author reveals his identity.
Subsection (5) — works of applied art
A work of applied art is defined in section 2 as an artistic creation with utilitarian functions or incorporated in a useful article, whether made by hand or produced on an industrial scale.
The term is half the general term, and runs from a fixed event — the making — not from the author’s death. Fabric prints, furniture designs, jewellery, packaging shapes, printed textile patterns and industrially produced decorative articles are typically in this category.
The classification therefore matters a great deal. A drawing hung on a wall is a work of fine art under section 4(1)(a)(vii), protected for life plus 50. The same drawing applied to a mug or a bilum may be a work of applied art, protected for 25 years from making.
Where a design is used as a badge of origin, consider trade mark protection as well — registration under the Trade Marks Act (Chapter 385) is renewable indefinitely.
The neighbouring rights terms
| Right | Term | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Performers | To the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the year the performance was fixed in a phonogram — or, absent fixation, following the year the performance took place | 21(6) |
| Producers of sound recordings | From publication to the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the year of publication — or, if unpublished, from fixation to the end of the fiftieth calendar year following fixation | 22(2) |
| Equitable remuneration | The same 50 calendar years from publication or, if unpublished, from fixation | 23(3) |
| Broadcasting organisations | From the moment the broadcasting takes place to the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the year in which the broadcast takes place | 24(2) |
Every neighbouring right runs to the end of the fiftieth calendar year following the relevant event. A performance fixed in March of one year is protected until 31 December of the fiftieth year after it — a simpler calculation than the author’s term in section 17(1), which runs from the actual date of death.
Remember too that section 3(1) applies the Act to works, performances, recordings and broadcasts existing when it commenced — provided the terms of protection had not already expired. A work whose old term had run out was not revived.
And under section 32, where an international treaty to which Papua New Guinea is party provides otherwise, the treaty prevails to the extent of any inconsistency.
Sources
- Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 — ss 2, 3, 4, 7, 17–19, 21–24, 32
- Trade Marks Act (Chapter 385)
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.