Section 4 of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 defines the subject matter of copyright.
Section 4(1)(a) — literary and artistic works
(i) books, pamphlets, articles, computer programs and other writings;
(ii) speeches, lectures, addresses, sermons and other oral works;
(iii) dramatic, dramatic-musical works, pantomimes, choreographic works and other works created for stage productions;
(iv) musical works, with or without accompanying words;
(v) audiovisual works;
(vi) works of architecture;
(vii) works of drawing, painting, sculpture, engraving, lithography, tapestry and other works of fine art;
(viii) photographic works;
(ix) works of applied art;
(x) illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography, architecture or science.
The list is introduced by “including in particular” — it is illustrative, not exhaustive. What every item must satisfy is the opening requirement: an original intellectual creation in the literary and artistic domain.
Originality here means the work originated with the author — it was not copied — and involved some intellectual creation. It does not mean novelty. Two photographers who independently photograph the same scene each own copyright in their own photograph.
Under section 4(2), works are protected by the sole fact of their creation, irrespective of the mode or form of expression, content, quality or purpose. Merit is irrelevant.
Computer programs are literary works — paragraph (i) places them with books and articles. That determines how they are protected: the code is protected, not the function it performs, which is excluded as a method of operation or system under section 5(a). Special free-use rules apply under section 14.
Oral works are protected — speeches, lectures, addresses and sermons, in paragraph (ii). Nothing in the Act requires a work to be written down or otherwise fixed before copyright arises. Note the qualification in section 13(c), which allows reproduction of a political speech or one delivered in legal proceedings for current information purposes.
Works of applied art — artistic creations with utilitarian functions or incorporated in a useful article, by hand or on an industrial scale (s 2). They are protected, but only for 25 years from making under section 17(5), rather than for life plus 50.
Photographic works are defined in section 2 as a recording of light or other radiation by any technique — but not a still extracted from an audiovisual work. A frame grab from a film is protected as part of the film, not separately as a photograph.
Section 4(1)(b) — derivative works
(i) translations, adaptations, arrangements and other transformations or modifications of works;
(ii) collections of works and databases, whether in machine, readable or other forms;
(iii) collections of expressions of folklore, provided that such collections are original by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents.
The protection of a derivative work is without prejudice to any protection of a pre-existing work or expression of folklore incorporated in or utilized for the making of that work.
So copyright in a translation belongs to the translator — but it does not license the translation. Making it required the author’s authorisation under section 6(1)(b), and reproducing it still engages the original author’s rights as well as the translator’s.
The same is true of collections of folklore. The compiler owns copyright in the selection and arrangement, and only where those are original. The underlying expressions of folklore remain protected under Part V, and using them commercially or outside their traditional context requires the consent of the competent authority under section 30(4).
Paragraph (b)(ii) protects collections of works and databases as derivative works. Read with section 5(a), which excludes mere data, the position is that the data itself is not protected but an original compilation of it is — the originality lying in the selection or arrangement.
Note also the specific exception in section 8(2)(c): the private copying exception does not extend to reproducing the whole or a substantial part of a database in digital form.
Working out whether something is protected
| Subject matter | Protected? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Source code of an application | Yes | A computer program, s 4(1)(a)(i) |
| The idea behind the application | No | Section 5(a) — idea, system, method of operation |
| A recorded sermon | Yes | An oral work, s 4(1)(a)(ii); the recording is separately a sound recording with neighbouring rights |
| A bilum design of traditional pattern | Depends | A new original design is a work of applied art; a traditional community design is an expression of folklore under Part V |
| A telephone directory listing every subscriber alphabetically | Unlikely | “Mere data” with no original selection or arrangement — ss 4(1)(b)(ii), 5(a) |
| An Act of Parliament, or a court judgment | No | Section 5(b) — official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature |
| A building erected in PNG | Yes | A work of architecture, s 4(1)(a)(vi); and s 3(3)(d) applies the Act to it whoever the architect is |
| A translation of a novel, made without permission | Yes, but | Protected as a derivative work, s 4(1)(b)(i) — while itself infringing the original author’s s 6(1)(b) right |
Once a work is within section 4, the author acquires the economic rights in section 6 and the moral rights in section 7, for the period set by section 17, subject to the free uses in sections 8 to 16.
Sources
- Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 — ss 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 13, 14, 17, 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.