TogoLoi n° 91-12, quotation and current-events press-reproduction exception
Loi n° 91-12 du 10 juin 1991 portant protection du droit d'auteur du folklore et des droits voisins, arts. 21-22 (citations et reproduction d'actualité par la presse)
In force.
A snippet reproduction rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
- Obligation class
- Attribution
What it requires
- You may take short analyses and quotations from a work lawfully made accessible to the public, including newspaper and periodical articles as a press review, in the original or in translation, if you mention the work's title and the author's name, conform to fair usage, and serve a scientific, critical, polemical, teaching or informational purpose.
- You may reproduce by the press, or broadcast, political, social or economic news articles (in original form or translation) and speeches delivered in public at official ceremonies or at political, judicial, administrative or religious meetings, for informational purposes, if you mention the author and source and the right has not been expressly reserved.
- Expect fair usage and the informational purpose, rather than a fixed length, to decide how much you may take: neither article sets a headline-length or short-extract cap beyond those tests.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Reproducing, representing or distributing a protected work without authorization is the délit de contrefaçon (art. 84); article 85 states three months to two years' imprisonment and a fine of XOF 500,000 to XOF 1,000,000 where the offender is shown to have engaged habitually in the acts article 84 describes, so an isolated act of infringement draws the law's civil remedies (seizure, confiscation, damages) rather than this criminal penalty.
Penalty structure
Applies where the infringer is shown to have habitually engaged in counterfeiting acts (art. 85); a first or isolated act of counterfeiting under article 84 carries the seizure, confiscation and damages remedies of articles 78 to 87 rather than this criminal fine.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Minimum
- 500,000
- Currency
- XOF
- Fixed cap
- 1,000,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Bureau Togolais du Droit d'Auteur (BUTODRA), which designates sworn agents to check that the law is carried out throughout Togolese territory (art. 89).
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does an aggregator's display of a headline and opening lines count as a 'courte citation' (short quotation) 'conforme aux bons usages' (in line with fair usage) under Article 21, when the law sets no length for a short quotation?
What this law does
Article 21 permits, once a work has been lawfully made accessible to the public and provided the work's title and the author's name are mentioned, short analyses and quotations taken from it, including quotations of newspaper and periodical articles in the form of a press review, where they conform to fair usage and are justified by a scientific, critical, polemical, teaching or informational purpose; such quotations and analyses may be used in the original or in translation.
Article 22 separately permits reproducing by the press, or broadcasting, for informational purposes, political, social or economic news articles published in their original form or in translation, and speeches delivered in public at official ceremonies or at political, judicial, administrative or religious meetings and assemblies. This is on condition that the author's name and the source are mentioned and that the right of reproduction has not been expressly reserved.
Neither article caps the quotation or the reproduction at a headline-length or short-extract threshold beyond the fair-usage and informational-purpose tests, and no reported Togolese decision applies either article to a systematic aggregator's reproduction of headlines and snippets, as opposed to an individual quotation or a traditional press review.
Togo has no separate press-publisher neighbouring right, no compelled platform-to-publisher bargaining regime, no recognized hot-news or misappropriation doctrine distinct from ordinary copyright and the law's civil seizure remedies, and no located case law on hyperlinking or framed display.
Article 120, the closing article, orders publication in the Journal officiel and execution as a law of the State but names no day of the law's own entry into force, and no commencement notice has been located in the Journal officiel.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app reuses other publishers' content.
Back to the example · Lint your app
Page updated .