Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000, Exceptions to Copyright and Enforcement
Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act 2000 (PNG), No. 21 of 2000, ss. 5, 8, 10, 14, 27-28
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 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not reproduce, adapt, or otherwise use a substantial part of a protected literary or artistic work, including text from a published article, beyond what the private-use, quotation, teaching, reprographic, or informatory-purposes exceptions in this Act allow, without the author's or copyright owner's authorization.
- A short quotation of a published work is permitted only where the reproduction is compatible with fair practice, does not exceed the extent justified by the purpose, and is accompanied by an indication of the source and, where it appears in the work, the author's name.
- Reproducing or adapting a computer program without authorization is permitted only when done by the lawful owner of a copy and only to the extent necessary for its use, backup, or error correction; no exception in this Act permits automated bulk reproduction of published works to train a model.
- Do not reproduce a substantial part of a database in digital form under the private-use exception; reproducing a database beyond what another exception allows requires the rightholder's authorization.
- Wilful or grossly negligent infringement carried out for profit-making purposes is a criminal offence carrying up to ten years' imprisonment, a fine of up to K100,000, or both, in addition to civil remedies available to the rightholder.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Section 28: wilful or grossly negligent infringement of a right protected under the Act, carried out for profit-making purposes, is an offence carrying imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or a fine not exceeding K100,000, or both.
Penalty structure
Section 28 criminal sanction for wilful or grossly negligent infringement carried out for profit-making purposes: imprisonment for up to ten years, a fine of up to K100,000, or both. Section 26(8) separately allows a fine of up to K100,000 against a person who continues an act of infringement contrary to a court order to cease it, in addition to any other penalty the Court is empowered to impose.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 6 September 2026
- Currency
- PGK
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Civil enforcement by the rightholder in the National Court under section 27; criminal prosecution under section 28
What it reaches
Obligation class
Attribution, Prohibition
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 5 excludes from protection any idea, procedure, system, method of operation, concept, principle, discovery, or official legislative, administrative, or legal text. Section 8 permits a private reproduction of a published work in a single copy without authorization where made exclusively for personal purposes, but expressly excludes a substantial part of a database in digital form and a computer program from that privilege.
Section 10 permits reproducing a short part of a published work in the form of quotation without authorization where the reproduction is compatible with fair practice, does not exceed the extent justified by the purpose, and is accompanied by an indication of the source and, where it appears in the work, the author's name.
Section 14 permits the lawful owner of a copy of a computer program to reproduce or adapt it in a single copy without authorization only to the extent necessary for its use with a computer for the purpose for which it was obtained. No section creates a text-and-data-mining exception.
Section 28 makes wilful or grossly negligent infringement for profit-making purposes a criminal offence, and section 27 gives the rightholder civil remedies including an order to cease a continuing infringement, breach of which is itself a further offence.
When LexLint raises it
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