Cook IslandsCopyright Act 2013, quoting and current-events reporting exceptions
archived copy
Read from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived . Publisher's page: https://www.paclii.org/ck/legis/num_act/ca2013133/In force since .
A snippet reproduction rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
- Obligation class
- Attribution
What it requires
- You may quote from a work already lawfully made available to the public if the amount quoted is justifiable given the purpose, does not unreasonably prejudice the copyright owner's legitimate interests, and comes with an acknowledgement of the work and the author's name where it appears in the source.
- You may copy or communicate to the public a newspaper article, periodical, lecture, speech or similar work, and excerpts of a work seen or heard in the course of reporting a current event, for the purpose of reporting current events to the public, without the copyright owner's authorisation.
- Copy or communicate no more than is justifiable for that purpose, and acknowledge the source and the author.
- Do not rely on that permission where the copyright owner has expressly prohibited copying or communicating the work for that purpose.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MAP 4.1Approaches for mapping AI technology and legal risks of its components – including the use of third-party data or software – are in place, followed, and documented, as are risks of infringement of a third party’s intellectual property or other rights.
- NIST AI 600-1
- GAI-RISK-10Intellectual Property
- MIT mitigations Draft
- 3.2Data Governance
- FINOS AIGF
- AIR-PREV-007Legal and Contractual Frameworks for AI Systems
- AIR-DET-013Providing Citations and Source Traceability for AI-Generated Information
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Section 41 makes intentional infringement or breach of a protected right for a profit-making purpose an offence, applicable where a reproduction of news content exceeds the section 16 or section 21 exception, punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding $50,000 or imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or both, for an individual, or a fine not exceeding $100,000 for any other person.
Penalty structure
Section 41 caps the fine for intentional, for-profit infringement at $100,000 for a body other than an individual, or $50,000 (or up to 2 years' imprisonment, or both) for an individual. The Act states these amounts as dollars without naming a currency; the row records them in New Zealand dollars, the currency in use in the Cook Islands.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- NZD
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Rights owners, who sue in the High Court of the Cook Islands for damages, expenses and court orders (Copyright Act 2013, ss. 39 and 40).
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does "for the purpose of reporting current events to the public" in section 21(1)(a)(i) cover an automated news aggregator that copies headlines and extracts without reporting anything of its own?
- Does a robots.txt directive or a website terms-of-use clause amount to the owner having "expressly prohibited" copying or communicating the work under section 21(3)?
What this law does
Section 16(1) permits a person to quote from a work that has already been lawfully made available to the public without infringing copyright, provided the amount quoted is justifiable given the purpose of the quotation, does not unreasonably prejudice the copyright owner's legitimate interests, and is accompanied by an acknowledgement of the work and the author's name where it appears in the source.
Section 21(1) separately permits copying or communicating to the public a newspaper article, periodical, communication to the public, lecture, speech, or similar work, and excerpts of a work seen or heard in the course of reporting a current event, for the purpose of reporting current events to the public, without the copyright owner's authorisation.
Section 21(2) requires that the amount copied or communicated be no more than is justifiable for that purpose and that the source and author be acknowledged, and section 21(3) withdraws the permission where the copyright owner has expressly prohibited copying or communicating the work for that purpose.
Section 41 makes intentional infringement or breach of a protected right for a profit-making purpose an offence punishable on conviction by a fine not exceeding $50,000 or imprisonment for not more than 2 years, or both, for an individual, or a fine not exceeding $100,000 for any other person, and section 39 separately entitles a rights owner to bring a civil action for damages and expenses.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app reuses other publishers' content.
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