Subject to the provisions of this Act, the author (being a resident in New Zealand) of every original painting, drawing, engraving, useful or ornamental design, sculpture, and photograph, or the negative of any photograph (each of which is for the purposes of this Part of this Act hereinafter termed a “work of art”) made either in New Zealand or elsewhere, and his assigns, shall have the exclusive right to sell, copy, engrave, reproduce, and multiply such work of art by any means and of any size, for the term of the natural life of such author, and seven years after his death.

Where a work of art is sold or disposed of, or is made or executed for or on behalf of any other person for a good or a valuable consideration, the person so selling or disposing of or making or executing the same shall not retain the copyright thereof unless it is expressly reserved to him by agreement in writing, signed at or before the time of such sale or disposition by the purchaser or assignee thereof, or by the person for or on whose behalf the same is so made or executed, but the copyright shall belong to the purchaser or assignee of such work of art, or to the person for or on whose behalf the same was made or executed:

Provided that the purchaser or assignee shall not be entitled to any such copyright unless, at or before the time of such sale or disposition, an agreement in writing, signed by the person so selling or disposing of the same, or by his agent duly authorised, was made to that effect.

This section does not apply to works of art which were sold or disposed of before the twentieth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven (being the date of the coming into operation of “The Fine Arts Copyright Act, 1877”).

Nothing herein shall prejudice the right of any person to copy or use any work of art in which there is no copyright, or to represent any scene or object, notwithstanding that there may be copyright in some representation of such scene or object.

All copyright under this Act shall be deemed personal estate, and shall be assignable at law; and every assignment thereof, and every license to use or copy by any means or process the work of art which is the subject of such copyright, shall be made by some note or memorandum in writing signed by the proprietor of the copyright, or by his agent appointed for that purpose in writing.

There shall be kept at some office in Wellington, or in any other city or town in New Zealand, by an officer (hereinafter called “the Registrar”) to be from time to time appointed by the Governor, a book or books entitled “The Register of Proprietors of Copyright in Works of Art and Dramatic Works,” wherein shall be entered a memorandum of every copyright to which any person is entitled under this Part of this Act, and also of every subsequent assignment of any such copyright.

The Registrar and register respectively under “The Fine Arts Copyright Act, 1877,” shall be deemed to be the Registrar and register respectively under this Act.

Such memorandum shall contain a statement of the date of such agreement or assignment, and of the names of the parties thereto, and of the name and place of abode of the person in whom the copyright is vested, and of the name and place of abode of the author of the work, together with a short description of the nature and subject thereof, and, in addition, if the person registering so desires, a sketch or outline or photograph, and, in the case of a photograph, a positive photograph upon paper, of the said work.

The proprietor of such copyright shall not be entitled to the benefit of this Act until such registration, and no action shall be sustainable, nor any fine be recoverable, in respect of anything done before registration.

Application for registration of any copyright under this Part of this Act, and of every assignment thereof, shall be made in the form numbered (1) in the Second Schedule hereto, and shall have annexed thereto a sketch or outline, or, in the case of a photograph, a positive photograph on paper, of the work of art to be registered.

On receipt of such application, and on payment of the prescribed fees, the Registrar shall register the copyright by entering a memorandum thereof in the register, and shall deliver to the applicant a receipt in the form numbered (2) in the Second Schedule hereto.

The register shall be open to inspection and search by any person on payment of the prescribed fee.

The Registrar shall supply to any person a certificate of any entry in the register on payment of the prescribed fee; and such certificate shall be admissible in any Court as evidence of the contents of the register.

Any Registrar, or any other person, who knowingly omits to make any entry received for registration, or who makes any false entry in the said register, is liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for any term not exceeding two years, or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds; and such false entries in the register shall be expunged, and any omissions made good.

Every person, not being the proprietor for the time being of copyright in any work of art, who without the consent of the proprietor of such copyright does or causes to be done any of the following things, that is to say,—

shall for every such offence forfeit to the proprietor of the copyright for the time being a sum not exceeding ten pounds.

All such repetitions, copies, and imitations made without such consent as aforesaid, and all negatives of photographs made for the purpose of obtaining such copies, shall be forfeited to the proprietor of the copyright.

In addition to the remedies provided by this section, the proprietor of the copyright may recover damages against the person so offending, and may in the same action recover and enforce the delivery to him of all unlawful repetitions, copies, imitations, and negatives, or may recover damages for the retention or conversion thereof:

Provided that nothing herein, nor any proceeding, conviction, or judgment for any act hereby forbidden, shall affect any other remedy to which any person aggrieved may be entitled.

Every person commits an offence who does or causes to be done any of the following things, that is to say,—

and on conviction for such offence shall forfeit to the person aggrieved a sum not exceeding ten pounds, or a sum not exceeding double the full price (if any) at which all such copies, engravings, imitations, or altered works were sold or offered for sale, whichever sum is the greater.

All such copies, engravings, imitations, or altered works shall be forfeited to the person or the assigns or legal representatives of the person whose name, initials, or monogram are fraudulently signed or affixed thereto, or to whom such fraudulent or altered work is falsely ascribed as aforesaid:

Provided that this section shall not have effect unless the person whose name, initials, or monogram are fraudulently signed or affixed, or to whom such spurious or altered work is fraudulently or falsely ascribed as aforesaid, was alive at the time when the offence was committed, or within seven years prior to such time.

Every person is liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds who does or causes to be done any of the following things, that is to say,—

Such fine may be recovered summarily by any person who prosecutes for the same before the expiration of twelve months from the commission of the offence.

In any action in the Supreme Court for the infringement of any such copyright as aforesaid, the Court may, on the application of either party, make such order for an injunction, inspection, or account, and give such direction respecting such action, injunction, inspection, and account, and the proceedings therein respectively, as the Court or a Judge thereof deems fit.

All repetitions, copies, or imitations of any work of art wherein or in the design whereof there is subsisting copyright under this Part of this Act, and all repetitions, copies, or imitations of the design of such work of art, which, contrary to the provisions of this Part of this Act, are made outside New Zealand, are hereby absolutely prohibited to be imported into New Zealand except by or with the consent of the proprietor of the copyright thereof, or his agent authorised in writing; and if the proprietor of any such copyright, or his agent, declares to the Minister of Customs in writing that any goods imported are repetitions, copies, or imitations of any such work of art or of the design thereof, and so prohibited as aforesaid, then such goods may be detained by the officers of the Customs for such period as the Minister directs, to enable such proprietor or agent to establish the fact by judgment of a competent Court, or may be dealt with as prohibited goods under “The Customs Law Act, 1908.”

The fees specified in Part I of the Third Schedule hereto shall be payable to the Registrar in respect of the matters therein mentioned.

The protection of the copyright law under this Part of this Act shall, in respect of photographs which are unregistered, apply in all respects as if such photographs were duly registered and protected thereunder, in favour of the person taking and producing such photographs, for a period of five years from the date of the first taking the same, if the word “Protected,” the name of the person taking the photograph, and the true date of such taking, are made part of the original plate, and clearly appear in each reproduction thereof:

Provided that the protection afforded by this section shall not apply to portraits of persons or groups of persons, or to photographs of any subject for the taking of which valuable consideration has been given.

Every person who publishes a copy of any photograph protected as aforesaid without the authority of the person protected under this section is liable, in respect of each copy so published without authority, to a fine not exceeding one pound; and all copies so published without authority may be ordered to be destroyed.

Every person is liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds who does or causes to be done any of the following things:—

All sums recoverable in respect of fines or forfeitures, and all unlawful copies, imitations, and all other things forfeited under this Part of this Act, may be recovered by summary proceeding before any two Justices.

In this Part of this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

Any person entitled as proprietor, under the provisions of the Imperial Acts of the third and fourth years of William the Fourth, chapter fifteen, and the fifth and sixth years of Victoria, chapter forty-five, to the copyright in any dramatic work may, subject to the provisions of those Acts, be registered under this Part of this Act as such proprietor by the Registrar at Wellington.

The application for registration shall be in the form in the Fourth Schedule hereto, and shall be signed by the proprietor or his duly authorised agent appointed in writing, and be accompanied by a copy of the dramatic work, or such particulars as are sufficient to identify it.

Any dramatic work produced or published in New Zealand may be registered by the proprietor thereof, under this Part of this Act, in the same manner as if he were a person entitled to register under the provisions of section seventeen hereof:

Provided that where any dramatic work registered under this Part of this Act is printed by the authority of the proprietor thereof, a copy of that work shall be deposited in the Library of the General Assembly.

The proprietor may, by notice in writing, appoint some person resident in New Zealand to be his agent in New Zealand, with authority to issue licenses for the representation of such dramatic work, and to sue for and recover the penalties and damages for unlicensed representation provided by the hereinbefore-mentioned Imperial Acts.

Every appointment of an agent may from time to time be altered and revoked by notice in writing, addressed to the Registrar, under the hand of the proprietor.

The Registrar, upon being furnished with reasonable evidence that the person applying to be registered is the proprietor of the copyright in the dramatic work, or of the appointment of such agent as aforesaid, shall enter in the register the name of the proprietor, and such particulars of the dramatic piece as are sufficient to identify the same, and the name of the agent (if any).

A copy of the entry in the register (signed and certified by the Registrar as a true copy) of the name of any person as proprietor or agent shall be prima facie evidence that such person is such proprietor or agent, and that such agent is duly authorised to grant licenses to represent the dramatic work, and to prohibit the unlicensed representation thereof, and to sue for penalties and damages under the said Imperial Acts for any unlicensed representation.

If the name of any person is, without sufficient cause, entered in the register as the proprietor of the copyright in any dramatic work, or as such agent as aforesaid, any person interested may apply to the Supreme Court on motion for an order that the register be rectified, and the Court may either refuse or grant such application, with or without costs.

Every person is liable to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour who fraudulently procures, or assists or is privy to fraudulently procuring, any entry to be made on the register of the name of any person as the proprietor of the copyright in any dramatic work, or as the agent of such proprietor.

The fees specified in Part II of the Third Schedule hereto shall be payable to the Registrar in respect of the matters and things therein mentioned.

In order to give further protection to the rights of authors and other proprietors of dramatic copyright than is provided by the aforesaid Imperial Acts, it is hereby declared that every person who for personal gain represents or causes to be represented any dramatic work, or any appreciable part or colourable imitation thereof, without the consent in writing of the author or other proprietor of the sole rights of representation of such dramatic work during the period for which copyright therein exists, is liable, in addition to any other penalties he may incur under the said Acts, to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and, in default of payment of such fine within twenty-one days after conviction, to three months’ imprisonment with or without hard labour:

Provided that proceedings for the recovery of such fine shall be taken not later than six months after the commission of the offence:

Provided also that no offence under this section shall be deemed to have been committed unless the copyright has been registered in New Zealand.

All proceedings under this section shall be heard and determined by a Magistrate only, under the provisions of “The Justices of the Peace Act, 1908.”

The author of any printed and published book, and his assigns, shall have the sole right to print and reprint that book for a period of twenty-eight years, to commence from the day of its first publication, and also if, at the expiration of such period, the author is then living, for the residue of his natural life.

Every person who, during the period or periods aforesaid, does or causes to be done any of the following things, that is to say,—

is liable to an action at the suit of the author or his assigns, in which action double costs of suit shall be allowed, and if a verdict is given against him in such action he shall also forfeit and pay to His Majesty the sum of fifty pounds.

The publisher of every book first published in New Zealand, or republished in New Zealand, shall, not later than one month after such publication or republication, deliver or cause to be delivered, at his own expense, two copies of the book to the Librarian or other officer of the General Assembly Library at Wellington, who shall give a receipt in writing for the same.

The copies so delivered shall be copies of the whole book, with all maps and illustrations belonging thereto, finished and coloured in the same manner as the best published copies of the book, and shall be bound, sewed, or stitched together, and on the best paper on which the book is printed.

Every publisher who fails to comply with this section is liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds, together with the value of the book, and such fine shall be paid to the credit of the official account of the General Assembly Library.

For the purposes of this section “book” includes every volume of letterpress, part or division of a volume, pamphlet, maps, charts, or plans published collectively; but does not include any second or subsequent edition of any book, unless such edition contains any addition or alteration either to or in the letterpress or to or in the maps or illustrations belonging thereto.