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Contents of this page - Click the shortcut links below:
COPYRIGHT SUMMARY FROM THE AUTHOR
I, Stephen Mifsud, the author and webmaster of the site www.maltawildplants.com, am writing this after having a paid service from a dedicated lawyer specialising on Copyright issues (Mamo PCV, Valletta). My project about the Wild Plants of Malta, for now displayed to the public in the media-form of an internet site, is under my own copyright and anyone who takes any part of my work without permission would be making an illegal act and be fined accordingly.
Below I include the COPYRIGHT STATUTE OF MALTA (click here to read). At that time (1976) it was more based on broadcasting and sound recording, but the same terms can be applied today on any work which is under copyright including art, research and webpages. However I want to summarize and write about this copyright issue in my simple and brief words so that everyone can understand and read in few minutes. Make sure that you read this first section of the page although reading the whole copyright statute is recommended.
Almost all of the material in www.maltawildplants.com is written and created by myself, author, photographer and webmaster of this project called Encyclopaedia of the Wild Plants of Malta or Encyclopaedia of the Wild Plants of the Mediterranean Maltese Islands. Exceptions include some photos or illustrationss taken from other sources, and in such cases they are referred or cited accordingly . By 'material' it is understood the following data:
Material which is not my own work is indicated either by including a reference from where the text is cited or acknowledged in the credits page. Photos that are not my own and found in the main photogalery do not have my signature logo on them (= Stephen Mifsud, www.maltawildplants.com). Such photos might either have no copyright issues or if they have, the name of the copyright witholding photographer is written in the corresponding caption.
First I would like to say something on the work involved. Each plant profile requires lot of work (click here for details) and expensive instruments such as a dedicated PC, high resolution scanner, expensive digital cameras and various specialised lenses and filters. Also to keep the site running, buy web space and register domains requires good sum of money (approx 400 USD yearly). Hence there is no need to say how frustrating would be for me to find out that someone took the material from this site withoutm my permission, acknowledgments and worse if it has been used for profitable or reputable purposes. The material here is intended for sole educational reasons and general 'home' information for the family. For this reason I am stressing the copyright act upon my work.
So, before anyone can use this material one must have written permission from me (the author) by means of a written and signedletter or email. One must include the following information:
- What material from the site exactly you are using (which plant, what photos etc).
- Details for what purpose you intend to use my material in.
- If and how it would be pubished (printed material, website, CD/sDVD media, etc)
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After I receive your email, I will reply back and and either give you or not the the permission to use the material in your project. You cannot use any material under copyright before getting my reply confirmation email / letter. Just sending the email on its own is not enough, but you must receive my confirmation email first. I advise that you store (and print) my permission email in case that in the future investigators would ask you for a proof that I have granted you permission to use the material.
Examples where written permission is absolutely required to use the material found in my site (www.maltawildplants.com) are for:
- Making a publication (article, book, paper, review, journal, etc)
- Advertisement of a product
- Documentation, SOP, instruction manuals, etc of a product.
- Any sort of scientific and non-scientific research
- Thesis, dissertations, assays, and any projects in all Universities of all grades (Cert., Dip., B., M., etc), and subjects
- Your website, of any category or subject, including non-profitable, educational, and charity sites.
- Your Photography, paintings or any art
- Broadcasting by means of any media (Documentaries / discussions on TV or Radio, Newspaper articles, etc
- Projects in schools and courses that will be displayed to the public, noticeboards or classroom for a long period.
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The above is a guideline list and it is recommended that anyone should contact me to be on the safe side. When permission is granted, you must always refer that you took information from my site and the the photos cannot be cropped or reduced in size so that the signature is not readable. However details of these instructions will be given in my permission email/letter.
Note that I take this seriously (as since the project is not funded by the Goverment, company, bank or other organisations) and I have already taken people in court for loyalty / copyright infringment (no friends in this respect!). One can see in the example below (click on thumbnails) a juridical sentence stating that the 'offender' have to pay me the sum of LM600 + expenses + interest due to the publication of ONE photo without my consent. So you are well warned about the consequences of copyright infringment and abuse.
EXAMPLE OF COPYRIGHT CONTRACT
Here is an example of a contract where I and the other party (a graphic designer) agreed upon the usage of a photo from my website for his use. A set of conditions were defined between us and we both countersigned the contract. The money was handed by IBAN, while the material was handed to him by electronic mail. I am including a copy so that one have an idea of what is expected by a contract. This is not the defenite structure of a contract but only one of many. Permission for non profit use does not usually need signed letter but correspondence is done by email.
Contract for Copyright issuing and conditions
DISCLAIMER NOTICE
In some plant profiles, there are edible and medicinal notes. These notes are neither my own writings (but taken from sources as indicated), nor that I tried or administered them personally and hence promote the public to use them as indicated. Therefore I am not responsible for any damages, health detioration, illness, etc caused by applying the information found in the website. Saying this, I believe the the sources from which I took the information is correct and reliable. So this site is 'use at your own risk' basis.
CONTACTING THE AUTHOR
You can contact me the author and webmaster of www.MaltaWildplants.com by email or post. In order to be able to use the material found in this site, you must receive back from me an email or letter both for acknowledgment and confirmation. You should then save this email in case investigators may require you a proof for permission of using the material. You CANNOT use the material before receiving back the confirmation email/letter.
COPYRIGHT STATUTE
An Act to make new provision in respect of copyright and
related matters, in substitution for the provisions of the Copyright Act, 1911 - [as amended up to 1976]
1. Short title and commencement. This
Act may be cited as the Copyright Act, 1967, and shall come into force on such date as the
Minister may, by notice in the Government Gazette, appoint.
2. Interpretation. (1) In this
Act, unless the context otherwise requires
"broadcasting authority" means the Broadcasting Authority established by section
121 of the Constitution of Malta and any other broadcaster whether licensed under the
Broadcasting Ordinance, 1961, or any other law of Malta, and includes a broadcasting
contractor operating in Malta;
"author", in the case of a cinematograph film or sound recording, means the
person by whom the arrangements for the making of the film or recording were undertaken,
and, in the case of a broadcast transmitted from within any country, means the person by
whom the arrangements for the making of the transmission from within that country were
undertaken;
"building" includes any structure;
"Board" means the Copyright Board established under section 17 of this Act;
"The Copyright Act, 1911" means the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom,
referred to in Proclamation No. VI of the 28th June, 1912;
"copyright" means copyright under this Act;
"body of persons" means any company or society of persons whether corporate or
unincorporated, whether vested with legal personality or not;
"communication to the public" includes, in addition to any public live
performance or delivery, any mode or public visual or acoustic presentation, but does not
include a broadcast or rebroadcast, and "communicate to the public" shall be
construed accordingly;
"copy" means a reproduction in written or graphic form, in the form of a
recording or cinematograph film, or in any other material form, so however that an object
shall not be taken to be a copy of an architectural work unless the object is a building
or model;
"lawful" means done in compliance with the provisions of this Act, and
"lawfully" shall be construed accordingly;
"licence" means a lawfully granted licence permitting the doing of an act
controlled by copyright;
"Malta" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the Constitution of
Malta;
"Minister" means the Minister responsible for trade and includes, to the extent
of the authority given, any person authorised by the Minister in that behalf for any
purpose of this Act;
"cinematograph film" means the first fixation of a sequence of visual images
capable of being shown as a moving picture and of being the subject of reproduction, and
includes the recording of a soundtrack associated with the cinematograph film;
"person" includes a body of persons;
"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under section 16 of this Act;
"owner of copyright" means the first owner, an assignee or an exclusive
licensee, as the case may be, of a copyright;
"sound recording" means the first fixation of a sequence of sounds capable of
being perceived aurally and of being reproduced, but does not include a soundtrack
associated with a cinematograph film;
"reproduction" means the making of one or more copies of a literary, musical or
artistic work, cinematograph film or sound recording;
"broadcast" means broadcast by wireless telegraphy or wire or both but does not
include a rebroadcast, and "broadcasting" shall be construed accordingly;
"rebroadcast" means simultaneous or subsequent broadcast by a broadcasting
authority of the broadcast of any broadcasting station not under its control, whether
situated in Malta or abroad, and includes diffusion of such broadcast over wires, and
"re-broadcasting" shall be construed accordingly:
Provided that "later rebroadcast" shall mean only any such subsequent broadcast
and "later re-broadcasting" shall be construed accordingly;
"work" includes translations, adaptations, new versions or arrangements of pre-existing
works, and anthologies or collections of works which, by reason of the selection and
arrangement of their content, present an original character;
"artistic work" means, irrespective of artistic quality, any of the following,
or works similar thereto:
(a) paintings, drawings, etchings, lithographs,
woodcuts, engravings and prints;
(b) maps, plans and diagrams;
(c) works of sculpture;
(d) photographs not comprised in a cinematograph
film;
(e) works of architecture in the form of buildings
or models; and
(f) works of artistic craftsmanship, including
pictorial woven tissues and articles of applied handicraft and industrial art;
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"work of joint authorship" means a work produced
by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of each author is
not separable from the contribution of the other author or authors;
"literary work" means, irrespective of literary quality, any of the following,
or works similar thereto:
(a) novels, stories and poetical works,
(b) plays, stage directions, choreographic works
or entertainments in dumb show, film scenarios and broadcasting scripts,
(c) textbooks, treatises, histories, biographics,
essays and articles,
(d) encyclopaedias and dictionaries,
(e) letters, reports and memoranda,
(f) lectures, addresses and sermons, but does not
include any written law, law report or judicial decisions;
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"musical work" means any musical work,
irrespective of musical quality, and includes works composed for musical accompaniment.
(2) For the purposes of this Act the following provisions shall apply with respect to
publication:
(a) a work shall be deemed to have been published
if copies thereof have been made available in a manner sufficient to render the work
accessible to the public;
(b) where in the first instance a part only of a
work is published, that part shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as a separate
work;
(c) a publication in any country shall be treated
as being a first publication notwithstanding that there has been an earlier first
publication elsewhere, if the two publications took place within a period of not more than
thirty days.
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3. Works eligible for copyright.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section the following works shall be eligible for
copyright:
(a) literary works;
(b) musical works;
(c) artistic works;
(d) cinematograph films;
(e) sound recordings;
(f) broadcasts.
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(2) A literary, musical or artistic work shall not be
eligible for copyright unless:
(a) sufficient effort has been expended on making
the work to give it an original character; and
(b) the work has been written down, recorded or
otherwise reduced to material form.
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(3) A design or model of manufacture eligible for copyright
under this Act shall not, by registration under the Industrial Property (Protection)
Ordinance, acquire a term of copyright beyond that specified under subsection (2) of
section 4 of this Act.
(4) A work shall not be ineligible for copyright by reason only that the making of the
work, or the doing of any act in relation to the work, involved an infringement of
copyright in some other work.
4. Copyright by virtue of nationality
or domicile. (1) Copyright shall he conferred by this section on every work eligible
for copyright of which the author or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, of
the joint authors is, at the time when the work is nude, a qualified person, that is to
say
(a) an individual who is a citizen of, or is
domiciled in, Malta; or
(b) a body of persons constituted and vested with
legal personality under the laws of Malta and established in Malta or a commercial
partnership registered in Malta in accordance with the provisions of the Commercial
Partnerships Ordinance, 1962.
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(2) The terms of copyright conferred by this section shall
be calculated according to the following table:
Type of Work
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Date of Expiration of Copyright |
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(i) Literary, musical or atistic works other than
photographs |
Twenty-five years after or artistic works the end of the
year which the author dies |
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(ii) Cinematograph films and photographs
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Twenty-five years after the end of the year which the work
was first made accessible to the public by the owner of the copyright therein |
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(iii) Sound recordings
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Twenty-five years after the end of the year in which the
recording was made. |
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(iv) Broadcasts
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Twenty-five years after the end of the year in which
broadcast took place. |
(3) In the case of an anonymous or pseudonymous literary,
musical or artistic work whose term of copyright is established under paragraph (i) of the
last preceding sub-section the copyright therein shall subsist until the end of the
expiration of twenty-five years from the end of the year in which it was first published:
Provided that in the event of the identity of the author becoming known
the terms of copyright shall be calculated in accordance with the provisions of paragraph
(i) of the last preceding subsection.
(4) In the case of a work of joint authorship, reference in the preceding table to the
death of the author shall be deemed to refer to the joint author who dies last, whether or
not he is a qualified person.
5. Copyright by reference to country
of origin. (1) Copyright shall be conferred by this section on every work, other than
a broadcast, which is eligible for copyright and which:
(a) being a literary, musical or artistic work or
a cinematograph film, is first published in Malta, or
(b) being a sound recording, is made in Malta,
and which has not been the subject of copyright conferred
by section 4 of this Act.
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(2) Copyright conferred on a work by this section shall have the same duration as is
provided for in section 4 of this Act in relation to the same type of work.
6. Copyright in works of Government
and international bodies. (1) Copyright shall be conferred by this section on every
work which is eligible for copyright and which is made by or under the direction or
control of the Government and also such international bodies or other governmental
organizations as may be prescribed.
(2) Copyright conferred by this section on a literary, musical or artistic work, other
than a photograph, shall subsist until the end of the expiration of twenty-five years from
the end of the year in which the work was first published.
(3) Copyright conferred by this section on a film, photograph, sound recording or
broadcast shall have the same duration as is provided for by section 4 of this Act in
relation to the same type of work.
(4) Sections 4 and 5 of this Act shall not be deemed to confer copyright on works to which
this section applies.
7. Nature of copyright in literary,
musical or artistic works and cinematograph films.
(1) Copyright in a literary, musical or artistic work or in
a cinematograph film shall be the exclusive right to control the doing in Malta of any of
the following acts, namely the reproduction in any material form, the communication to the
public, the broadcasting or later rebroadcasting of the whole work or a substantial part
thereof, either in its original form or in any form recognisably derived from the
original:
Provided that copyright in any such work shall not include the right to
control:
(a) the doing of any of the aforesaid acts by way
of fair dealing for purposes of research, private use, criticism or review, or the
reporting of current events, provided that if such use is public, it is accompanied by an
acknowledgment of the title of the work and its authorship, except where the work is
incidentally included in a broadcast or rebroadcast;
(b) the doing of any of the aforesaid acts by way
of parody, pastiche or caricature;
(c) the inclusion in a film, broadcast or
rebroadcast of any artistic work situated in a place where it can be viewed by the public;
(d) the reproduction and distribution of copies of
any artistic work permanently situated in a place where it can be viewed by the public;
(e) the incidental inclusion of an artistic work
in a film, broadcast or rebroadcast;
(f) the inclusion in a collection of literary or
musical works of excerpts from any such work, provided that not more than two excerpts of
the works of the same author shall be used in the same collection and that the collection
is designed for use in any school or university and includes an acknowledgment of the
title and authorship of the work;
(g) the inclusion of a work in a school broadcast
or rebroadcast;
(h) any use made of a work in any school or
university for the educational purposes of that school or university, subject to the
condition that, if a reproduction is made for any such purpose, it shall be destroyed
before the end of the period of twelve calendar months after it was made;
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(i) the making of a sound recording of a literary
or musical work, as well as the reproduction of such sound recording by the maker or under
licence from him, provided that the copies thereof are intended for retail sale in Malta
and that such work has already been previously recorded under licence from the owner of
the relevant copyright, whether in Malta or abroad, subject to such conditions and to the
payment of such compensation as the Minister may prescribe;
(j) the reading or recitation in public by a
person of any reasonable extract from a published literary work if accompanied by a
sufficient acknowledgment;
(k) any use made of a work, other than its
reproduction in any material form, by or under the direction or control of the Government,
or by such public libraries, non-commercial documentation centres and scientific
institutions as may be prescribed, where such use is in the public interest, no revenue is
derived therefrom and no admission fee is charged for the communication, if any, to the
public of the work thus used;
(1) the reproduction of a work by or under the
direction or control of a broadcasting authority where such reproduction or any copies
thereof are intended exclusively for a lawful broadcast or rebroadcast and are destroyed
before the end of the period of six calendar months immediately following the making of
the reproduction or such longer period as may be agreed between the broadcasting authority
and the owner of the relevant copyright in the work:
Provided that any reproduction of a work made under this paragraph may,
if it is of an exceptional documentary character, be preserved in the archives of the
broadcasting authority, but shall not be used for broadcasting, rebroadcasting or for any
other purpose without the consent of the owner of the relevant copyright in the work;
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(m) the broadcasting or rebroadcasting of a work
already lawfully made accessible to the public with which no licensing body referred to
under section 15 of this Act is concerned, subject to the condition that, saving the provisions
of this section, the owner of the broadcasting right in the work receives a fair
compensation which shall be determined, in the absence of agreement, by the Board;
(n) the communication to the public of a work, in
a place where no admission fee is charged in respect of such communication, by any club
whose aim is not profit making;
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(o) any use made of a work for the Purpose of a
judicial proceeding or of any report of any such proceeding.
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(2) Copyright in a work of architecture shall also include
the exclusive right to control the erection of any building which reproduces the whole or
a substantial part of the work either in its original form or in any form recognizably
derived from the original:
Provided that the copyright in any such work shall not include the
right to control the reconstruction, in the same style as the original, of a building to
which that copyright relates.
8. Broadcasting of works incorporate
in a cinematograph film. (1) Where the owner of the copyright in any literary,
musical or artistic work authorizes a person to incorporate the work in a cinematograph
film and a broadcasting authority broadcasts or later rebroadcasts the film, it shall, in
the absence of any express agreement to the contrary between such owner and person, be
deemed that the owner of the copyright authorised such broadcast or later rebroadcast.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section where a broadcasting
authority broadcasts or later rebroadcasts a cinematograph film in which musical work is
incorporated, the owner of the right to broadcast the musical work shall, subject to the
provisions of this Act, be entitled to receive fair compensation from the broadcasting
authority.
(3) In the absence of agreement on the compensation payable under the last preceding
subsection the amount of such compensation shall be determined by the Board.
9. Nature of copyright in sound
recordings. Copyright in a sound recording shall be the exclusive right to control in
Malta the direct or indirect reproduction of the whole or a substantial part of the
recording either in its original form or in any form recognizably derived from the
original:
Provided that the provisions of paragraphs (a), (h), (k), (1)
and (o) of the proviso to subsection (1) of section 7 of this Act shall apply to
the copyright in a sound recording in like manner as they apply to copyright in a
literary, musical or artistic work or in a cinematograph film.
10. Nature of copyright in broadcasts.
Copyright in a broadcast shall be the exclusive right to control the doing in Malta of any
of the following acts, namely, the recording and the rebroadcasting of the whole or a
substantial part of the broadcast and the communication to the public, in places where an
admission fee is charged, of the whole or a substantial part of a television broadcast,
either in its original form or in any form recognizably derived from the original:
Provided that:
(a) the provisions of paragraphs (a), (h), (k)
and (o) of the proviso to subsection (1) of section 7 of this Act shall apply to
the copyright in a broadcast in like manner as they apply to copyright in a literary,
musical or artistic work or a cinematograph film;
(b) the copyright in a television broadcast shall
include the right to control the taking of still photographs from such broadcasts or any
rebroadcasts thereof.
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11. First ownership of copyright.
(1) Copyright conferred by sections 4 and 5 of this Act shall vest initially in the
author:
Provided that where a work:
(a) is commissioned by a person who is not the
author's employer under a contract of service or apprenticeship, or
(b) not having been so commissioned, is made in
the course of the author's employment,
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the copyright shall be deemed to be transferred to the
person who commissioned the work or the author's employer, subject to any agreement
between the parties excluding or limiting such transfer.
(2) Copyright conferred by section 6 of this Act shall vest initially in the Government or
such international bodies or other governmental organizations as may be prescribed, and
not in the author.
(3) Subject to the provision of the last preceding sub-section:
(a) the name on a work purporting to be the name
of its author shall be considered as such, unless the contrary is proved;
(b) in the case of an anonymous or pseudonymous
work, the publisher whose name is indicated in the work as such shall be deemed to be,
unless the contrary is proved, the legal representative of the anonymous or pseudonymous
author and shall be entitled to exercise and protect the rights belonging to the author
under this Act.
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12. Assignments and licences. (1)
Subject to the provisions of this section, copyright shall be transmissible by assignment,
by testamentary disposition, or by operation of law, as movable property.
(2) An assignment or testamentary disposition of copyright may be limited so as to apply
to some only of the acts which the owner of the copyright has the exclusive right to
control, or to a part only of the period of the copyright, or to a specified country or
other geographical area.
(3) No assignment of copyright and no licence to do an act the doing of which is
controlled by copyright shall have effect unless it is in writing:
Provided that a licence to communicate to the public any work which is
subject to copyright may be oral or may be inferred from conduct.
(4) An assignment or licence of copyright granted by a joint author shall have effect as
if granted by the other joint authors:
Provided that, where any other joint author is not satisfied with the
terms on which such assignment or licence has been granted, he may, within three months
from the day on which the said terms have been communicated in writing to him, apply to
the Board for the determination by it of such terms as the Board may consider fair and
reasonable.
(5) An assignment, licence or testamentary disposition may be effectively granted or made
in respect of a future work or an existing work in which copyright does not yet subsist,
and the prospective copyright in any such work shall be transmissible as movable property:
Provided that such assignment or licence shall not be deemed to include
a copyright which in terms of subsection (1) of section II of this Act vests in the person
who commissions the work or in the author's employer, unless the parties expressly include
it.
(6) A testamentary disposition of the material on which a work is first written or
otherwise recorded shall unless the testator has provided otherwise, be deemed to include
any copyright or prospective copyright in the work which is vested in the deceased.
13.- Infringements. (1) Copyright
shall be infringed by any person who does or causes any other person to do, without a
licence from the owner thereof, an act the doing of which is controlled by copyright.
(2) Copyright shall also be infringed by any person who, without the licence of the owner
of the copyright, imports into Malta, otherwise than for his private and domestic use, or
distributes therein by way of trade, hire or otherwise, or by way of trade exhibits in
public, any article in respect of which copyright is infringed under the last preceding
subsection.
(3) Where any person infringes the copyright in a work he shall be liable, at the suit of
the owner of such copyright, to be condemned by Her Majesty's Commercial Court to the
payment of damages or to the payment of a fine of not less than � 10 nor exceeding � 5oo
as the said Court, having regard to the circumstances of the case, may deem proper, and to
the restitution of all the profit derived from the infringement of the copyright:
Provided that where the defendant proves to the satisfaction of the
Court that at the time of the infringement he was not aware and could not reasonably be
expected to be aware that copyright subsisted in the work to which the action relates, the
Court shall not condemn him to the restitution of the profit.
(4) The Court may, moreover, in a suit instituted under the last preceding subsection, on
the application of the plaintiff, order that all the infringing articles still in
possession of the defendant be delivered to the plaintiff.
(5) in an action for infringement of copyright in respect of the construction of a
building, no prohibitory injunction or other order shall be made:
(a) after the construction of the building has
been begun, so as to prevent it from being completed; or
(b) so as to require the building, in so far as it
has been constructed, to be demolished.
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14. Prohibition to mutilate or modify
a work. (1) It shall not be lawful for any person, including the assignee of the
copyright or a licensee thereunder, without the author's consent, to mutilate or modify
any work during its term of copyright in a way prejudicial to the honour or reputation of
the author.
(2) Saving the provisions of the last preceding section, any person who contravenes the
provision of subsection (1) of this section shall be liable at the suit of the author or
his heirs to be condemned by Her Majesty's Commercial Court to the payment of a fine, as
and for damages, of not less than � 10 and not exceeding �500.
(3) In any proceedings under the last preceding subsection the Court shall order the
destruction of all the infringing articles still in possession of the defendant where it
is satisfied that the prejudice caused to the author is so serious as to justify such
measure.
(4) The provision of the last preceding subsection shall not apply where the infringing
article is a building, but in that case the fine referred to in subsection (2) of this
section shall be of not less than �50 and not exceeding � 1,000
15. Functions of the Copyright Board.
(1) in any case where it appears to the Board that a licensing body or a co-owner-
(a) is unreasonably refusing to grant a licence in
respect of copyright, or
(b) is imposing unreasonable terms or conditions
for the granting of such licence,
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the Board may direct that, as respects the doing of any act
relating to a work with which the licensing body or the co-owner, as the case may be, is
concerned, a licence shall be deemed to have been granted by the licensing body or by the
co-owner at the time the act is done, provided the appropriate fees fixed by such Board
are paid or tendered before the expiration of such period or periods as the Board
may determine.
(2) Saving the provisions of paragraph of the proviso to subsection (1) of section 7 of
this Act, the provisions of the last preceding subsection shall not apply where the
refusal to grant a licence, or the terms and conditions for the granting of a licence,
represent the unanimous decision of all the co-owners.
(3) In this section:
"licensing body" means an organization which has as its main object, or one of
its main objects, the negotiation and granting of licences in respect of copyright works,
and includes an individual carrying on the same activity;
"co-owners'' means two or more persons having distinct copyrights in a composite
production, namely any production consisting of two or more works.
16. Regulations and extensions of
application of Act. The Minister shall make regulations prescribing anything which
may be prescribed under this Act and may make regulations extending the application of
this Act in respect of any or all of the works referred to in subsection (1) of section 3
of this Act:
(a) to individuals who are citizens of or are
domiciled in,
(b) to bodies of persons constituted and
established in or commercial partnerships registered under the laws of,
(c) to works, other than sound recordings and
broadcasts, first published in,
(d) to sound recordings made in, a country which
is a party to a treaty to which Malta is also a party and which provides for the
protection of copyright in works which are protected under this Act.
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17. Copyright Board. (1) The
Minister shall by notice in the Government Gazette appoint a Copyright Board, consisting
of a Chairman and two other members for the purpose of performing the functions assigned
to such Board by the provisions of this Act.
(2) The Chairman of the said Board shall be a Magistrate of Judicial Police or a person
who has practised as an advocate in Malta for a period of, or periods amounting in the
aggregate to, not less than seven years.
(3) The Minister shall also appoint two other persons to act as members of the Board, one
to replace the Chairman and the other to replace any of the other two members, whenever
the Chairman or any of the other members, as the case may be, is, for any reason, unable
to carry out his functions.
(4) Every member of the Board shall hold office during the Minister's pleasure and the
Minister may, without assigning any reason, revoke the appointment of any member and
appoint a new member whenever he deems it to be necessary.
(5) The members of the Board, with the exception of the Chairman if he is a Magistrate of
Judicial Police, shall before entering upon their office, take before the Crown
Advocate-General the oath to examine and decide any matter referred to them with equity
and impartiality.
(6) The Chairman or any other member of the Board may abstain or may be challenged by any
of the contending parties for any of the causes mentioned in section 735 of the Code of
Organization and Civil Procedure. Any question regarding any cause of abstention or
challenge and any question which is a question of law alone shall be decided by the
Chairman of the Board.
(7) The Board shall have the power to summon any person to give evidence or to produce
books or other documents before it, and the Chairman of the Board shall have, in regard to
the summoning and examining of witnesses before the Board, the same powers as are by the
Code of Organization and Civil Procedure conferred on Her Majesty's Civil Court, First
Hall.
(8) Proceedings of the Board shall be held in public and the Board's decision shall be
notified to the parties by registered post to their respective business or private
addresses and, unless the contrary is proved, such decision shall be deemed to have been
served on the party concerned not later than the third day succeeding the day when it was
posted to such party.
(9) The Minister may make regulations governing proceedings before the Board and, without
prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations
(a) prescribing the manner in which any matter may
be referred to the Board;
(b) prescribing the procedure to be adopted by the
Board in dealing with any matter referred to it under this Act and the records to be kept
by the Board;
(c) prescribing the manner in which the Board
shall be convened and the place where the Board shall hold its sittings;
(d) prescribing a scale of costs and fees; and
(e) generally for the better carrying out of the
functions assigned to the Board by this Act.
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18. Appeal from decisions of Copyright
Board. (1) There shall lie a right of appeal from all decisions of the Board.
(2) Any appeal shall be brought before Her Majesty's Court of Appeal by application within
fifteen days of service of the Board's decision.
(3) The Board established under section 30 of the Code of Organization and Civil
Procedure may make rules concerning appeals to Her Majesty's Court of Appeal under this
Act, and prescribing a scale of costs and fees in relation to such appeals.
19. Costs and fees. Costs and
fees in respect of proceedings before the Board and before Her Majesty's Court of Appeal
shall be borne by the parties in such manner as the said Board or Court, as the case may
be, shall decide.
20. Amendment of the Industrial
Property (Protection) Ordinance. The provisions of section 69 of the Industrial
Property (Protection) Ordinance shall have effect subject to the amendment shown in the
Schedule hereto.
21. Application to works made before
commencement of Act. This Act shall apply in relation to works made before the
commencement of this Act as it applies in relation to works made thereafter.
22. Repeals. The Copyright Act,
1911, so far as in force in the law of Malta, shall cease to have such force and the
Copyright Act, 1911 (Modification) Ordinance (Chapter 69) shall be repealed on the coming
into operation of this Act.
SCHEDULE
(Section 20)
In section 69 of the Industrial Property (Protection)
Ordinance, immediately after subsection (3) there shall be added the following new
subsection:
"(4) The provisions of this section shall have effect subject to
the provision of subsection (3) of section 3 of the Copyright Act, 1967."
*Official English text published in the
"Supplement to the Government Gazette of Malta", No. II. 992 of March
3, 1967.
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