Copyright Act, Computational Data Analysis Exception and Non-Override Rule
Copyright Act 2021, ss. 243-244 and s. 187 (Computational Data Analysis Exception)
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 21 November 2021.
A copyright and text and data mining (TDM) rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 7 September 2026.
What it requires
- An app may copy a work or a recording of a protected performance for computational data analysis, including to train a model, only if it has lawful access to the material (not obtained by circumventing a paywall or breaching a database's terms of use), does not use the copy for any other purpose, and does not supply the copy to any other person except to verify the results or for collaborative research or study relating to that purpose.
- A contract term purporting to exclude or restrict this computational data analysis exception is void and does not bind the app.
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 244 makes it a permitted use for a person to copy a work or a recording of a protected performance for computational data analysis, or to prepare it for computational data analysis, including using the work as an example of a type of data to improve the functioning of a computer program (the Act's own illustration is training a computer program to recognise images), provided the copier does not use the copy for any other purpose, does not supply the copy except to verify the results or for collaborative research or study, and has lawful access to the material.
Section 244(2)(d)'s illustrations state that lawful access excludes access gained by circumventing paywalls or breaching a database's terms of use. Section 187 makes any contract term void to the extent it purports to exclude or restrict this permitted use, so a website's terms of service cannot override the exception, though they can still govern how the first copy was lawfully obtained. The Act carries no sui generis database right distinct from ordinary copyright protection.
Sections 187, 243 and 244 fall outside the two carve-outs in the Act's own commencement clause, so they came into force with the rest of the Act on 21 November 2021.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_models