Copyright Act 1994

198 Criminal liability for making, dealing with, using, or copying illicit recordings

• (1) Every person commits an offence against this section who, without the consent of the performer,—

  • (a) makes for sale or hire; or

  • (b) imports into New Zealand otherwise than for that person's private and domestic use; or

  • (c) possesses in the course of a business with a view to committing any act infringing the rights conferred by this Part; or

  • (d) In the course of a business,—

    • (i) offers or exposes for sale or hire; or

    • (ii) sells or lets for hire; or

    • (iii) distributes—

  a recording that is, and that the person knows is, an illicit recording.

  (2) Every person commits an offence against this section who causes a recording that is, and that the person knows is, an illicit recording, to be—

  • (a) played in public or shown in public; or

  • (b) communicated to the public.

  (3) Every person commits an offence against this section who, otherwise than for that person's private and domestic use, copies a recording—

  • (a) without the consent of the performer, if the person knows that the recording was made without the performer's consent; or

  • (b) if the copy is made for purposes different from those for which the performer gave his or her consent, and the person knows that the performer has not consented to the copying of the recording for different purposes; or

  • (c) if the original recording was made in accordance with any of the exemptions contained in any of sections 175 to 179 or sections 181 to 191, and the copy is made for different purposes, and the person knows that the performer has not consented to the copying of the recording for those different purposes.

  (4) Every person who commits an offence against subsection (1) or subsection (2) or subsection (3) is liable on summary conviction,—

  • (a) in the case of an offence against subsection (1), to a fine not exceeding $5,000 for every illicit recording to which the offence relates, but not exceeding $50,000 in respect of the same transaction, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months:

  • (b) in the case of an offence against subsection (2) or subsection (3), to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months.

  (5) Where any person is convicted of an offence against this section in circumstances where that offence involves the making of profit or gain, that offence shall be deemed to have caused a loss of property for the purposes of section 32(1)(a) of the Sentencing Act 2002, and the provisions of that Act relating to the imposition of the sentence of reparation shall apply accordingly.

  Compare: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s 198(1), (2), (3)(a), (5), (6) (UK)

  Section 198(2)(b): substituted, on 31 October 2008, by section 89 of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 27).

  Section 198(5): amended, on 30 June 2002, by section 186 of the Sentencing Act 2002 (2002 No 9).