Copyright (Rome Convention) Act, 1933

Act 1 of 1933

Citation
Act 1 of 1933
Date
1 December 1998
Language
English
Type
Act
eSwatini

Copyright (Rome Convention) Act, 1933

Act 1 of 1933

  • Commenced on 16 March 1933
  • [This is the version of this document at 1 December 1998.]
An Act to implement the Rome Convention scheduled thereto.

1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the Copyright (Rome Convention) Act, 1933.

2. Application to foreign countries

This Act relates to the following foreign countries, that is to say: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czecho-Slovakia, Free City of Dantzig, Denmark, with the Faroe Islands, Estonia, Finland, France with Algeria and Colonies, Germany, Greece, Hayti, Hungary, Italy, Japan with Korea, Formosa, Japanese Saghalien and Kwantung Leased Territory, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco (French Zone), Netherlands with the Netherlands East Indies, Surinam and Curacao, Norway, Poland, Portugal with Colonies, Roumania, Siam, Spain with Colonies, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria and Lebanon, Tunis and Yugo-Slavia (which are hereinafter referred to as the foreign countries of the Copyright Union).

3. Reciprocal application of Copyright Act, 1912, on conditions

The Copyright Act, 1912, shall apply:
(a)to works first published in a foreign country of the Copyright Union, in like manner as if they were first published within the parts of the British Commonwealth to which the Copyright Act, 1911 of the United Kingdom extends;
(b)to literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, or any class thereof, the authors whereof were at the time of the making of the work subjects or citizens of a foreign country of the Copyright Union, in like manner as if the authors were British subjects;
(c)in respect of residence in a foreign country of the Copyright Union, in like manner as if such residence were residence in the parts of the British Commonwealth to which the said Copyright Act, 1911 of the United Kingdom extends:Provided that—
(i)the term of copyright within the parts of the British Commonwealth to which this Act applies shall not exceed that conferred by the law of the country of origin of the work;
(ii)the enjoyment of the rights conferred by the Copyright Act, 1912, shall be subject to the accomplishment of the following conditions and formalities, that is to say:
(a)in the case of any newspaper or magazine article on current economic, political or religious topics (not being a serial story or tale) the right to prevent the reproduction of such article (either in the original language or in a translation) in another newspaper or magazine with an indication of the source shall be conditional upon reproduction being forbidden by express declaration in some conspicuous part of the newspaper or magazine in which the article is published;
(b)in the case of any literary or dramatic work of which the country of origin is Greece, Estonia, Japan with Korea, Formosa, Japanese Saghalien and Kwantung Leased Territory, or Siam the right after the expiration of ten years from the end of the year in which the work or in the case of a book published in numbers each number of the work was first published to prevent the production, reproduction, performance in public or publication of any translation of the work shall be conditional upon the publication before the expiration of the above-mentioned period and within the parts of the British Commonwealth to which this Act applies or within any foreign country of the Copyright Union of an authorised translation in the language for which protection is claimed of the work or of each number of the work;
(c)in the case of any literary or dramatic work of which the country of origin is Yugo-Slavia the right after the expiration of ten years from the end of the year in which the work or in the case of a book published in numbers each number of the work was first published to prevent the production, reproduction or publication of any English translation of the work shall be conditional upon the publication before the expiration of the abovementioned period and within the parts of the British Commonwealth to which this Act applies or within any foreign country of the Copyright Union of an authorised English translation of the work or of each number of the work;
(d)in the case of any published musical work of which the country of origin is Greece or Siam the right to prevent performance in public shall be conditional upon performance in public being forbidden by an express declaration on the title-page or commencement of the work; and
(e)in the case of any work of which the country of origin is Siam, the rights conferred by the Copyright Act, 1912 shall be conditional upon the accomplishment of the conditions and formalities prescribed by law in Siam;
(iii)in the application to any work to which protection is given by this Act of sections 3(2)(d) and 18 of the Copyright Act, 1912, the date shown in the second column of the Third Schedule to this Act against the name of the country of origin of the said work shall be substituted for the commencement of the said Copyright Act, 1912 and the date shown in the third column of the said Schedule against the name of the country of origin shall be substituted for the passing of that Act in sections 18(7) and (8) wherever those expressions occur;
(iv)where any musical work to which the Copyright Act, 1912, is applied by this Act has been published before the date shown in the second column of the Third Schedule to this Act against the name of the country of origin of the said work, but no contrivance by means of which the work may be mechanically performed has before the said date been lawfully made or placed on sale within the parts of the British Commonwealth to which this Act applies, copyright in such work shall include all rights conferred by the said Copyright Act with respect to the making of records, perforated rolls and other contrivances by means of which the work may be mechanically performed;
(v)in the application of this Act to Palestine and to Tanganyika Territory respectively, the last foregoing proviso shall not have effect as respects any work if any contrivance by means of which that work may be mechanically performed has been lawfully made or placed on sale within Palestine or, as the case may be, within Tanganyika Territory before the following dates respectively, that is to say, in the case of Palestine, the twenty-sixth day of May, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, and in the case of Tanganyika Territory, the twenty-third day of July, nineteen hundred and thirty-one;
(vi)nothing in the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1912, as applied by this Act shall be construed as reviving any right of preventing the production or importation of any translation in any case where the right has ceased by virtue of section 5 of the International Copyright Act, 1886 of the United Kingdom.

4. Saving of existing rights in certain cases

Where any person has, before the date of this Act, taken any action whereby he has incurred any expenditure or liability in connection with the reproduction or performance of any work in a manner which at the time was lawful, or for the purpose of or with a view to the reproduction or performance of a work at a time when such reproduction or performance would, but for the making of this Act, have been lawful, nothing in this Act shall diminish or prejudice any rights or interest arising from, or in connection with, such action which are subsisting and valuable at the said date unless the person who, by virtue of this Act, becomes entitled to restrain such reproduction or performance agrees to pay such compensation as, failing agreement, may be determined by arbitration.

5. Interpretation

(1)In this Act “the country of origin” means—
(a)in the case of unpublished works, the country to which the author belongs;
(b)in the case of published works the country of first publication;
(c)in the case of works published simultaneously in several countries of the Copyright Union, the country the laws of which grant the shortest term of protection; and
(d)in the case of works published simultaneously in a country outside the Copyright Union and in a country of the Copyright Union, the country of the Copyright Union in which the work is so published.
(2)The Interpretation Act, 1889 of the United Kingdom, shall apply to the interpretation of this Act.

First Schedule

Reservations made to the Berlin Convention by countries which have not ratified the Rome Convention

CountrySubjectProvisions of earlier Conventions retained by reservations
DenmarkNewspaper and Magazine ArticlesArt. 7 of Berne Convention as amended by Additional Act.
EstoniaTranslating rightArt. 5 of Berne Convention as amended by Additional Act.
Performing rights as regards translations of dramatic or dramatico-musical worksArt. 9, par.(2) of Berne Convention.
FranceWorks of art applied to industrial purposesArt. 4 of Berne Convention.
RoumaniaNewspaper and Magazine Articles.Art. 7 of Berne Convention.
SiamWorks of art applied to industrial purposesArt. 4 of Berne Convention.
Conditions and formalitiesArt. 2, par.(2) of Berne Convention.
Translating rightArt. 5 of Berne Convention as amended by Additional Act.
Newspaper and Magazine ArticlesArt. 7 of Berne Convention as amended by Additional Act.
Performing rights in dramatic, dramatico-musical and musical worksArt. 9 of Berne Convention and par. (2) of Final Protocol.
Retrospective effectArt. 14 of Berne Convention and par. (4) of Final Protocol as amended by Additional Act.
TunisWorks of art applied to industrial purposesArt. 4 of Berne Convention.

Second Schedule

Reservations made to the Rome Convention retained by countries which have ratified the Rome Convention

CountrySubjectProvisions of earlier Conventions retained by reservations
GreeceTranslating rightArt. 5 of Berne Convention.
 Performing right in dramatic, dramatico-musical and musical worksArt. 9 of Berne Convention.
JapanTranslating rightArt. 5 of Berne Convention as amended by Additional Act.
Yugo-SlaviaTranslating right in respect of translations into the languages of Yugo-SlaviaArt. 5 of Berne Convention as amended by Additional Act.

Third Schedule

Country of Origin  
Belgium1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
France1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Germany1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Hayti1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Japan1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Luxembourg1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Monaco1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Norway1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Portugal1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Spain1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Switzerland1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Tunis1st July, 191216th December, 1911.
Denmark17th March, 191316th December, 1911.
Netherlands17th March, 19131st November, 1912.
Netherlands East Indies, Curacao11th April, 19131st April, 1913.
Surinam13th June, 19131st April, 1913.
Italy1st April, 19141st April, 1914.
Morocco (French Zone)16th November, 191716th June, 1917.
Sweden1st January, 19201st January, 1920.
Poland26th April, 192028th January, 1920.
Austria21st December, 19201st October, 1920.
Greece21st December, 19209th November, 1920.
Czecho-Slovakia27th May, 192122nd February, 1921.
Bulgaria6th February, 19225th December, 1921.
Brazil21st April, 19229th February, 1922.
Hungary21st April, 192214th February, 1922.
Dantzig, Free City of13th October, 192224th June, 1922.
Syria - Lebanon9th October, 19241st August, 1924.
Roumania1st January, 19271st January, 1927.
Estonia3rd November, 19279th June, 1927.
Finland7th May, 19281st April, 1928.
Portuguese Colonies and Spanish Colonies7th May, 19297th May, 1929.
French Colonies and Protectorates under the authority of the French Ministry of the Colonies27th October, 193026th May, 1930.
Yugo-Slavia27th October, 193017th June, 1930.
Liechtenstein7th October, 193130th July, 1931.
Siam7th October, 193117th July, 1931.
Korea, Formosa, Japanese Saghalien and Kwantung Leased Territory.17th March, 19321st August, 1931.
[Explanatory note][This Act has been created out of an Order-in-Council applying the Copyright Act, 1911 of the United Kingdom to Swaziland, part of which order being the Copyright (Rome Convention) Order-in-Council, 1933.]
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History of this document

01 December 1998 this version
Consolidation
16 March 1933
Commenced