Acts Online
GT Shield

Copyright Act, 1978 (Act No. 98 of 1978)

Chapter 1 : Copyright in Original Works

3. Copyright by virtue of nationality, domicile or residence, and duration of copyright

 

(1) Copyright shall be conferred by this section on every work, eligible for copyright, of which the author or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, any one of the authors is at the time the work or a substantial part thereof is made, a qualified person, that is —
(a) in the case of an individual, a person who is a South African citizen or is domiciled or resident in the Republic; or
(b) in the case of a juristic person, a body incorporated under the laws of the Republic:

Provided that a work of architecture erected in the Republic or any other artistic work incorporated in a building or any other permanent structure in the Republic, shall be eligible for copyright, whether or not the author was a qualified person.

 

(2) The term of copyright conferred by this section shall be, in the case of—
(a) literary or musical works or artistic works, other than photographs, the life of the author and fifty years from the end of the year in which the author dies: Provided that if before the death of the author none of the following acts had been done in respect of such works or an adaptation thereof, namely—
(i) the publication thereof;
(ii) the performance thereof in public;
(iii) the offer for sale to the public of records thereof;
(iv) the broadcasting thereof,

the term of copyright shall continue to subsist for a period of fifty years from the end of the year in which the first of the said acts is done;

(b) cinematograph films, photographs and computer programs, fifty years from the end of the year in which the work—
(i) is made available to the public with the consent of the owner of the copyright; or
(ii) is first published,

whichever term is the longer, or failing such an event within fifty years of the making of the work, fifty years from the end of the year in which the work is made;

(c) sound recordings, fifty years from the end of the year in which the recording is first published;
(d) broadcasts, fifty years from the end of the year in which the broadcast first takes place;
(e) programme-carrying signals, fifty years from the end of the year in which the signals are emitted to a satellite;
(f) published editions, fifty years from the end of the year in which the edition is first published.

 

(3)
(a) In the case of anonymous or pseudonymous works, the copyright therein shall subsist for fifty years from the end of the year in which the work is made available to the public with the consent of the owner of the copyright or from the end of the year in which it is reasonable to presume that the author died, whichever term is the shorter.
(b) In the event of the identity of the author becoming known before the expiration of the period referred to in paragraph (a), the term of protection of the copyright shall be calculated in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2).

 

(4) In the case of a work of joint authorship the reference in the preceding subsections to the death of the author shall be taken to refer to the author who dies last, whether or not he is a qualified person.