Copyright Act 1994

102 False attribution of identity of author or director

• (1) In this section, the term attribution, in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work or a film, means an express or implied statement as to the identity of the author of the work or the director of the film.

  (2) A person has the right—

  • (a) not to have a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work falsely attributed to him or her as author; and

  • (b) not to have a film falsely attributed to him or her as director.

  (3) The right conferred by subsection (2) is infringed by a person who—

  • (a) issues to the public copies of—

    • (i) a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work; or

    • (ii) a film—

    in or on which there is a false attribution; or

  • (b) exhibits in public—

    • (i) an artistic work; or

    • (ii) a copy of an artistic work,—

    in or on which there is a false attribution,—

  knowing, or having reason to believe, that the attribution is false.

  (4) A person (A) infringes a right under subsection (2) if—

  • (a) A performs a literary, dramatic, or musical work in public, or shows a film to the public, or communicates the work or film to the public; and

  • (b) the work or film is accompanied by a false attribution; and

  • (c) A knows or has reason to believe that the attribution is false.

  (5) The right conferred by subsection (2) is infringed by—

  • (a) the issue to the public; or

  • (b) the public display—

  of material containing a false attribution in connection with any of the acts referred to in subsection (3) or subsection (4).

  (6) The right conferred by subsection (2) is infringed by a person who, in the course of a business,—

  • (a) possesses a copy of—

    • (i) a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work; or

    • (ii) a film—

    in or on which there is a false attribution; or

  • (b) sells or lets for hire, offers or exposes for sale or hire, exhibits in public, or distributes a copy of—

    • (i) a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work; or

    • (ii) a film—

    in or on which there is a false attribution; or

  • (c) in the case of an artistic work, possesses the work when there is a false attribution in or on the work; or

  • (d) sells, or lets for hire, offers or exposes for sale or hire, distributes, or exhibits in public an artistic work in or on which there is a false attribution,—

  knowing, or having reason to believe, that there is such an attribution and that the attribution is false.

  (7) The right conferred by subsection (2) is infringed by a person who does an act described in this section or who authorises another person to do such an act.

  Compare: 1962 No 33 s 62(1), (2); Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s 84(1)–(5), (7) (UK)

  Section 102(4): substituted, on 31 October 2008, by section 60 of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 27).