Page:Copyright Amendment Act 1992 from Government Gazette.djvu/14



(8) …

(9) In any [civil or criminal] proceedings by virtue of this Chapter with regard to the alleged infringement of the copyright in a cinematograph film registered in terms of the Registration of Copyright in Cinematograph Films Act, 1977 (Act No. 62 of 1977), it shall be presumed―

that every party to those proceedings had knowledge of the particulars entered in the register of copyright mentioned in section 15 of the said Act from the date of the lodging of the application in question to record those particulars;

that the person who is alleged to have done an act which infringes the relevant copyright did that act without the required authority, unless the contrary is proved.

(10) In any [civil or criminal] proceedings by virtue of this Chapter with regard to the alleged infringement of the copyright in a cinematograph film, a sound recording or a computer program, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that any person trading in the selling, letting or distribution of copies of [cinematograph films] any of the said works, and who was found in possession of a [reproduction or adaptation of such a cinematograph film] copy of any of such works, sold or let for hire or by way of trade offered or exposed for sale or hire such [reproduction or adaptation] copy.

(11) Where in any proceedings by virtue of this Chapter with regard to the alleged infringement of the copyright in a work it is proved that the person alleged to have done an act which allegedly infringes the relevant copyright did such act without the authority of the exclusive licensee, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that the relevant act was done also without the authority of the owner of the copyright concerned.

(12) (a) In any proceedings by virtue of this Chapter relating to the alleged infringement of the copyright in a work, evidence to prove―

the subsistence of the copyright in that work; or

the title of any person in respect of such copyright, whether by way of ownership or licence,

may be adduced by way of affidavit, and the mere production of such affidavit shall be prima facie proof of the relevant facts.

(b) The court before which an affidavit referred to in paragraph (a) is produced, may in its discretion order the person who made the affidavit to be subpoenaed to give oral evidence in the proceedings in question, or may cause written interrogatories to be submitted to such person for reply, and any reply purporting to be a reply from such person, shall likewise be admissible in evidence in such proceedings. ”.

Amendment of section 27 of Act 98 of 1978, as amended by section 11 of Act 52 of 1984 and section 3 of Act 61 of 1989

24. Section 27 of the principal Act is hereby amended―

by the substitution for subsection (6) of the following subsection: “(6) A person convicted of an offence under [subsection (1)] this section shall be liable―

in the case of a first conviction, to a fine not exceeding five thousand rand or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years or to both such fine and such imprisonment, for each article to which the offence relates;

in any other case, to a fine not exceeding ten thousand rand or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or to both such fine and such imprisonment, for each article to which the offence relates