Copyright Order, 1989, News Reporting and Quotation Exceptions
Copyright Order, 1989 (Order No. 13 of 1989), ss. 5, 9, 11
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In force.
A snippet reproduction rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 7 September 2026.
What this law does
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Section 5 excludes "rules or decisions of courts and administrative bodies," "news of the day published, broadcast or publicly communicated by any other means," and "mere communications of facts and data" from copyright protection, so a factual news report as such is never a protected work in the first place.
Section 9(a)(ii), the Order's "Free use" provision, permits, without the author's consent and without payment, the inclusion of quotations from a protected work in another work, with mention of source and author, "including quotations from newspaper articles and periodicals in the form of press summaries," provided the quotation is compatible with fair practice and its extent does not exceed what the purpose justifies.
Section 11(c) permits reproducing in the press, or communicating to the public, an article published in a newspaper or periodical on a current economic, political or religious topic (or a broadcast or cable-distributed work of the same character), unless the article or work was accompanied by an express condition prohibiting such use, and provided the source is clearly indicated when so used.
Section 11(d) separately permits, for the purpose of reporting a current event, the reproduction or making available to the public of a work to the extent justified by the informatory purpose.
Section 11(g) permits reproducing in the press, or communicating to the public, a political speech delivered in public, a speech delivered during legal proceedings, or a public lecture, address or sermon, provided the use is exclusively for current information, while the author retains the right to publish a collection of such works. None of these provisions creates a publisher-side neighbouring right; the Order's own neighbouring-rights part (ss.
24-30) reaches only performers, producers of phonograms, and broadcasting organisations. Section 1 provides that the Order comes into operation on a date to be appointed by the Minister by notice in the Gazette, and no such commencement notice has been located, so no commencement day is recorded even though the Order, as the sole copyright statute located, is treated as the current law.
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