Sections 21, 22 and 24 of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 each open with the words “Subject to section 25”. Section 25 is where those rights stop.
Section 25 — the limitations
(a) the use of short excerpts for reporting current events to the extent justified by the purpose of providing current information; or
(b) reproduction solely for scientific research; or
(c) reproduction solely for the purpose of face-to-face teaching activities — except for performances and phonograms which have been published as teaching or instruction materials; or
(d) cases where, under Part II, a work can be used without the authorization of the author or other owner of copyright.
Section 25 addresses section 21 (performers), section 22 (producers of sound recordings) and section 24 (broadcasting organisations).
It does not mention section 23, the equitable remuneration right, and section 23 does not open with the “subject to” formula. Section 23 is limited instead by its own terms, which confine it to sound recordings published for commercial purposes used for broadcasting, communication to the public or public performance.
Nor does section 25 touch the performers’ moral rights in section 21(3), which are expressed to arise independently of the performer’s economic rights.
Paragraph (a) — reporting current events
The use of short excerpts for reporting current events, to the extent justified by the purpose of providing current information.
Short excerpts, and to the extent justified. A brief clip of a performance at a public event, or of another broadcaster’s coverage, may be used in a news report. Extended use, or use for entertainment rather than information, is outside it.
Paragraph (a) is the neighbouring-rights counterpart of section 13(b), which permits reproduction and broadcasting of short excerpts of a work seen or heard in the course of current events. The two operate together: news footage capturing a protected performance, in a broadcast picked up from another station, is covered on both the copyright and the neighbouring-rights side.
Note one difference in wording. Section 13(b) requires the work to have been seen or heard in the course of the event. Paragraph (a) here speaks more simply of use of short excerpts for reporting current events — but the proportionality control does similar work.
Paragraph (b) — scientific research
The exception covers reproduction solely for scientific research. Two limits follow.
Only reproduction. Not broadcasting, not communication to the public, not rental. A researcher may copy a recording for study; the researcher may not put it online.
Only where scientific research is the sole purpose. A copy made partly for research and partly for another use is outside paragraph (b).
There is no equivalent free use for research in Part II. The nearest provisions on the copyright side are section 12(a)(i) — a single reprographic copy by a public institution where it is satisfied the copy will be used solely for study, scholarship or private research — and section 10. So a researcher copying a recording relies on paragraph (b) against the performers and producer, and must still deal with any copyright in the underlying work.
Paragraph (c) — face-to-face teaching, with a carve-out
Reproduction solely for the purpose of face-to-face teaching activities — except for performances and phonograms which have been published as teaching or instruction materials.
Recordings published as teaching or instruction materials are outside paragraph (c) entirely. Language courses, instructional recordings and educational audio produced and sold for schools cannot be copied under this provision.
The reason is obvious: those recordings exist to be sold to educational institutions. Allowing schools to copy them freely would destroy the market for exactly the material the exception is meant to support — the same policy that produces the no licence available condition in section 11(1)(b)(ii) and section 12(a)(iii).
Note also face-to-face. Teaching delivered online is not covered, and would in any event be a communication to the public — not a reproduction — so outside paragraph (c) on two grounds.
Paragraph (d) — the cross-reference to Part II
Cases where, under Part II, a work can be used without the authorization of the author or other owner of copyright.
Paragraph (d) imports the whole of the Part II free-use scheme into the neighbouring rights. Whatever may be done to a work without the author’s permission may equally be done as against the performer, producer and broadcaster.
That carries across:
- Section 8 — a single private copy of a published work for personal purposes.
- Section 9 — temporary reproductions incidental to lawful digital transmission or playback.
- Section 10 — quotation of a short part of a published work.
- Section 11 — teaching by way of illustration, and face-to-face teaching in non-commercial institutions.
- Section 12 — single reprographic copies by public institutions.
- Section 13 — the informatory-purposes exceptions.
- Section 15 — importation of a copy for personal purposes.
So a person who lawfully makes a private copy of a published CD under section 8 does not infringe the producer’s section 22(1)(a) reproduction right either — paragraph (d) sees to that. And a traveller importing one CD for personal use is protected against both section 6(1)(f) and section 22(1)(b).
Equally, the limits on those Part II provisions carry across. Where section 8 does not apply because of section 8(2) — a computer program, a substantial part of a digital database, or a use conflicting with normal exploitation — paragraph (d) gives no help against the neighbouring right holders either.
A separate scheme for folklore
Expressions of folklore are protected by Part V, not by Part III, and section 25 does not apply to them. Section 30(2) sets out its own, narrower exceptions: use by a person exclusively for his own personal purposes; short excerpts for reporting current events; and use solely for face-to-face teaching or scientific research.
Note that a performance of an expression of folklore is nonetheless protected under section 21, because the section 2 definition of performers expressly includes those who perform expressions of folklore. Section 25 therefore governs the performance, while Part V governs the underlying material.
Sources
- Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 — ss 2, 8–15, 21–25, 30
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.