Copyright Act 2013, quoting and current-events reporting exceptions
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 7 December 2013.
A snippet reproduction rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 7 September 2026.
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Section 16(1) permits a person to quote from a work that has already been lawfully made available to the public without infringing copyright, provided the amount quoted is justifiable given the purpose of the quotation, does not unreasonably prejudice the copyright owner's legitimate interests, and is accompanied by an acknowledgement of the work and the author's name where it appears in the source.
Section 21(1) separately permits copying or communicating to the public a newspaper article, periodical, communication to the public, lecture, speech, or similar work, and excerpts of a work seen or heard in the course of reporting a current event, for the purpose of reporting current events to the public, without the copyright owner's authorisation.
Section 21(2) requires that the amount copied or communicated be no more than is justifiable for that purpose and that the source and author be acknowledged, and section 21(3) withdraws the permission where the copyright owner has expressly prohibited copying or communicating the work for that purpose.
Section 41 makes intentional infringement or breach of a protected right for a profit-making purpose an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding $50,000 or imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or both, for an individual, or a fine not exceeding $100,000 for any other person, and section 39 separately entitles a rights owner to bring a civil action for damages and expenses.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Section 41 makes intentional infringement or breach of a protected right for a profit-making purpose an offence, applicable where a reproduction of news content exceeds the section 16 or section 21 exception, punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding $50,000 or imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or both, for an individual, or a fine not exceeding $100,000 for any other person.
Penalty structure
Section 41 caps the fine for intentional, for-profit infringement at $100,000 for a body other than an individual, or $50,000 (or up to 2 years' imprisonment, or both) for an individual. The Act states these amounts in Cook Islands dollars, at par with the New Zealand dollar.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 7 September 2026
- Currency
- NZD
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
What it reaches
Obligation class
Attribution
When LexLint raises it
aggregates_content
Read the law
Text of the Copyright Act 2013, Cook Islands Sessional Legislation database, PacLII, archived copy