Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, News Reporting and Quotation Exceptions

Section 30(1) provides that the copyright in a lecture, address, speech or other similar work delivered in public is not infringed by its reproduction in the press or a broadcast for the purpose of information, and section 30(2) provides that the copyright in an article published in a newspaper or periodical, or a broadcast, on a current economic, political, or religious topic is not infringed by reproduction in the press or in a broadcast or cable programme, if the right of reproduction has not been expressly reserved and sufficient acknowledgement is given; neither exception applies where it conflicts with a normal exploitation of the work or unreasonably prejudices the copyright owner's legitimate interests (s. 30(3)).

Section 29 excuses fair dealing for the purposes of criticism or review of a work, or of reporting current events, subject to sufficient acknowledgement, except where the work is used to report current events by means of an audio-visual work, a sound recording, a broadcast, or a programme-carrying signal, and except that using a photograph to report current events is never fair dealing.

Section 31 excuses a quotation from a literary or musical work, including a quotation from an article in a journal that summarises the work, where the quotation is compatible with fair practice, does not exceed the extent justified by the purpose, and is sufficiently acknowledged.

The Act's neighbouring-rights provisions protect performers, producers of sound recordings, and broadcasting organisations rather than a print or online news publisher as such, so no publisher-side neighbouring right exists, and the Act contains no text-and-data-mining exception, no reference to hyperlinking or framing, and no compelled-bargaining mechanism.