Page:Copyright Amendment Act 1980 from Government Gazette.djvu/2



GENERAL EXPLANATORY NOTE

To amend the Copyright Act, 1978, so as to provide that originality shall be a requirement for copyright in any work; to apply certain provisions applying to a work, also to a substantial part of such work; to further define a diffusion service for certain purposes; to further define the circumstances in which reproduction of a work shall be permitted; to determine ownership of copyright; and to effect certain textual alterations; and to provide for matters connected therewith.

(English text signed by the State President.) (Assented to 5 May 1980.)

E IT ENACTED by the State President, the Senate and the House of Assembly of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:―

1. Section 1 of the Copyright Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (2) of the following subsection: “ (2A) Any reference in this Act to the doing of any act in relation to any work shall, unless the context otherwise indicates, be construed as a reference also to the doing of any such act in relation to any substantial part of such work. ”.

2. Section 2 of the principal Act is hereby amended―

by the substitution in subsection (1) for the words preceding paragraph (a) of the following words: “(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the following works, if they are original, shall be eligible for copyright―”; and

by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection: “(2) A literary, musical or artistic work shall not be eligible for copyright unless

sufficient effort or skill has been expended on making the work to give it a new and original character; and

the work has been written down, recorded or otherwise reduced to material form.”.

3. Section 6 of the principal Act is hereby amended―

by the substitution for the words preceding paragraph (a) of the following words: “Copyright in a literary or musical work [or any substantial part thereof] vests the exclusive right to do