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Law / Micronesia

FSM Copyright Act, exclusive rights, fair use, and compilation protection

FSM Code Title 35, Ch. 1 (Copyrights), secs. 101-109

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.

A copyright and text and data mining (TDM) rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 5 September 2026.

What it requires

  • A general fair use exception permits reproducing a copyrighted work, including for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, weighed against the purpose, nature, amount used, and market effect of the use.
  • No text-and-data-mining-specific exception or opt-out mechanism exists, so relying on fair use for automated collection or model training rests on the same multi-factor test as any other use.
  • A compilation of preexisting data is protected as an original work of authorship only for the compiler's own original selection, coordination, or arrangement, not for the underlying data collected.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Private right of actionYes

Criminal exposure note

Willful infringement for commercial advantage or private gain is punishable by a fine of $10,000 or imprisonment of up to one year, or both (sec. 123(1)).

Penalty structure

Criminal fine ceiling for willful infringement for commercial advantage or private gain under sec. 123(1); imprisonment of up to one year may be imposed instead of or with the fine. Civil remedies under sec. 122 are an injunction, actual damages plus the infringer's profits, and court-imposed punitive damages, none of which is capped.

Rule
Fixed only
As of
5 September 2026
Currency
USD
Fixed cap
10,000

What it reaches

Obligation class

TDM

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 106 of the FSM Copyright Act gives a copyright owner the exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works from, distribute, perform, and display a copyrighted work, subject to section 107's fair-use exception, which reaches reproduction for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, weighed against the purpose and commercial character of the use, the nature of the work, the amount used, and the effect on the work's market.

No text-and-data-mining-specific exception or opt-out mechanism exists in the chapter. Section 101 defines a compilation as an original work of authorship formed by selecting, coordinating, or arranging preexisting material or data, and section 103 confines a compilation's copyright to the compiler's own contribution, not the underlying material, so the Act confers no separate sui generis database right over data a scraper collects.

Willful infringement for commercial advantage or private gain is a criminal offense (section 123), and any infringement of the exclusive rights arms the copyright owner with a civil action for an injunction, damages, and court-imposed punitive damages (section 122); the chapter's own text does not state the calendar date on which it took effect.

When LexLint raises it

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  • trains_models

Read the law

Official text of the FSM Code
Title 35, Chapter 1 (Copyrights), as codified by the Legislative Information System (LIS) Project for the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia

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