SeychellesCopyright Act, news reproduction and press-article exceptions
Copyright Act, 2014 (Act No. 5 of 2014), ss. 6, 11, 14 (news-related free-use provisions)
In force since .
A snippet reproduction rule binding private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
- Obligation class
- Attribution
What it requires
- You need not obtain permission to use news of the day or miscellaneous facts having the character of mere items of press information: section 6(b) excludes them from copyright protection.
- You may quote from a work lawfully made available to the public, without the owner's authorisation, if the quotation is compatible with fair practice and does not exceed the extent its purpose justifies, and you indicate the source and the author's name where it appears in the source (s. 11).
- You may reproduce, broadcast or otherwise communicate to the public an article published in a newspaper or periodical on a current economic, political or religious topic, or a broadcast work of the same character, unless the right to authorise reproduction is expressly reserved (s. 14(a)).
- You may reproduce and broadcast or otherwise communicate to the public short excerpts of a work seen or heard in the course of reporting current events, to the extent that purpose justifies (s. 14(b)).
- Treat a collection of data, including a database in machine-readable or other form, as protected where it is original by reason of the selection or arrangement of its contents (s. 5(1)(b)).
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 31(1) makes willful, commercial-scale infringement of a reproduction right protected under the Act an offence punishable on conviction by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine not exceeding SCR50,000, or both; section 31(3) raises this to imprisonment not exceeding ten years or a fine not exceeding SCR100,000, or both, for a second or subsequent offence committed within five years of a previous conviction.
Penalty structure
Section 31(1) caps a first offence at a fine of SCR50,000 (or imprisonment of up to five years, or both); section 31(3) raises the cap to SCR100,000 (or imprisonment of up to ten years, or both) for a second or subsequent offence committed within five years of a previous conviction under the section.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- SCR
- Fixed cap
- 100,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The court, on application by the rights owner, which may order the infringer to desist (s. 30(1)).
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does the reservation in section 14(a), which must be 'expressly reserved on the copies', have to appear on each copy, or does a notice on a website suffice for an article reproduced online?
What this law does
Section 6(b) excludes news of the day and miscellaneous facts having the character of mere items of press information from copyright protection. Section 11(1) permits quoting from a work that has lawfully been made available to the public without the copyright owner's authorisation, provided the quotation is compatible with fair practice and does not exceed the extent justified by the purpose.
Section 11(2) requires that the quotation be accompanied by an indication of source and the author's name where the name appears in the source. Section 14(a) permits reproducing, broadcasting, or otherwise communicating to the public an article published in a newspaper or periodical on a current economic, political, or religious topic, or a broadcast work of the same character.
This permission does not apply where the right to authorise reproduction is expressly reserved by the author or other copyright owner. Section 14(b) separately permits reproducing and broadcasting or otherwise communicating to the public short excerpts of a work seen or heard in the course of reporting current events, to the extent justified by that purpose.
Section 31(1) makes willful, commercial-scale infringement of a reproduction right an offence punishable on conviction by imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to SCR50,000, or both, rising to up to ten years or a fine of up to SCR100,000, or both, for a second or subsequent offence within five years. Section 30 separately entitles the rights owner to a court order requiring the infringer to desist and to damages and expenses.
Section 5(1)(b) also protects, as derivative works, collections of data including databases, whether in machine-readable or other form, provided the collection is original by reason of the selection or arrangement of its contents.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app reuses other publishers' content.
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