MauritiusCopyright Act 2014, limitations on economic rights and offences
Copyright Act 2014 (Act No. 2 of 2014), ss. 16-22, 56 (limitations on economic rights, and offences)
In force since .
A copyright and text and data mining (TDM) rule binding public and private bodies.
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Do not reproduce, adapt or communicate a substantial part of a copyrighted work to the public beyond the narrow private-use, quotation, research, teaching, library, or current-events exceptions in sections 16 to 22.
- There is no text-and-data-mining exception; training on scraped copyrighted text must fit within one of the existing narrow exceptions, most plausibly the section 19 ground for scientific research or teaching illustration, or risk criminal liability under section 56.
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.
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
Criminal exposure note
A person who, without authorisation, publishes, distributes, reproduces, performs, or communicates a work to the public for commercial gain, or otherwise deprives a copyright owner of rights for gain, commits an offence liable on a first conviction to a fine not exceeding 300,000 rupees and imprisonment not exceeding 2 years, and on a second or subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding 500,000 rupees and imprisonment not exceeding 8 years (s. 56(1), (3)).
Penalty structure
Section 56(3) sets a lower cap of 300,000 rupees and imprisonment of up to 2 years on a first conviction, rising to a fixed cap of 500,000 rupees and imprisonment of up to 8 years on a second or subsequent offence; the higher, repeat-offence cap is recorded here.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- MUR
- Fixed cap
- 500,000
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Section 16 permits one private copy of a lawfully obtained published work by a natural person, excluding the whole or a substantial part of a digital database; section 17 permits temporary reproduction that deletes itself automatically; sections 18 to 22 permit quotation, teaching, library, informatory and computer-programme uses; section 56 creates the infringement offences. They limit copying and require no log or record, and the Act states no territorial test for these provisions, so the hook is empty.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Sections 16 to 22 permit reproduction or quotation of a work without the copyright owner's authorisation only within narrow bounds: private reproduction for personal use (excluding a database in digital form or a computer programme except as separately provided), quotation compatible with fair practice but only for caricature, parody or pastiche, utilisation for scientific research or teaching illustration, reprographic reproduction for face-to-face teaching or by libraries and archives, and reproduction or broadcasting of short excerpts for reporting current events.
There is no text-and-data-mining-specific exception. A person who, without authorisation, publishes, distributes, reproduces or communicates a work to the public for commercial gain commits an offence under section 56, liable on a first conviction to a fine not exceeding 300,000 rupees and imprisonment not exceeding 2 years, rising on a second or subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding 500,000 rupees and imprisonment not exceeding 8 years.
The Act protects a database only where it is original by reason of the selection or arrangement of its contents, as a compilation work, and confers no separate sui generis database right.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web, trains models or reuses other publishers' content.
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