Copyright Act 1998, compilation and database protection
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force since 4 January 2000.
A database right rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 7 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not reproduce or commercially deal in a substantial part of a database or compilation that is original by reason of the selection, co-ordination or arrangement of its contents, without the compiler's authorisation.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Unauthorised commercial dealing in an infringing copy or phonorecord (importing for other than private use, possessing in the course of business, distributing prejudicially to the copyright owner, or making a reproducing device knowing it will be used for infringement) is an offence under section 53(1)-(2), liable on summary conviction to a fine of fifty thousand dollars or two years' imprisonment, or on conviction on information to one hundred thousand dollars or four years; any other offence under section 53 is liable to twenty-five thousand dollars or one year summarily, or fifty thousand dollars or two years on information.
Penalty structure
Section 53(4) caps commercial dealing in an infringing copy at fifty thousand dollars (two years) on summary conviction or one hundred thousand dollars (four years) on conviction on information; section 53(5) caps any other offence under the section at twenty-five thousand dollars (one year) or fifty thousand dollars (two years).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 7 September 2026
- Currency
- BSD
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
What it reaches
Obligation class
Attribution
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
A compilation, defined as a work formed by collecting and assembling pre-existing materials or data selected, co-ordinated or arranged so that the whole constitutes an original work of authorship, is a protected category of copyright work, and the term compilation includes collective works; the Act creates no separate sui generis database right beyond this originality-based compilation protection.
Copyright in a compilation extends only to the material the compiler contributed, not to the pre-existing material used, and does not enlarge or affect copyright in that pre-existing material. Unauthorised commercial dealing in an infringing copy, including importing it, possessing it in the course of business, or distributing it so as to prejudice the copyright owner, is an offence.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_models
Read the law
Copyright Act, Chapter 323, Statute Law of The Bahamas