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Chapter Law Content

Title: COPYRIGHT ACT CH
Category: Ministry of Economic Affairs(經濟部)
Chapter III Authors and Copyright
Section 4 Economic Rights
Subsection 1 Categories of Economic Rights
Article 22
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, authors have the exclusive right to reproduce their works.
Performers have the exclusive right to reproduce their performances by means of sound recording, video recording, or photography.
The provisions of the preceding two paragraphs do not apply to temporary reproduction that is transient, incidental, an essential part of a technology process, and without independent economic significance, where solely for the purpose of lawful network relay transmission, or for the lawful use of a work; provided, this shall not apply to computer programs.
In the preceding paragraph, the phrase "temporary reproduction… for the purpose of lawful network relay transmission" includes technically unavoidable phenomena of the computer or machine occurring in network browsing, caching, or other processes for enhancing transmission efficiency.
Article 23
Authors of oral and literary works have the exclusive right to publicly recite their works.
Article 24
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, authors have the exclusive right to publicly broadcast their works.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to further public broadcasts of a performance after that performance has been reproduced or publicly broadcast.
Article 25
Authors of audiovisual works have the exclusive right to publicly present their works.
Article 26
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, authors of oral and literary, musical, and dramatic/choreographic works have the exclusive right to publicly perform their works.
Performers have the exclusive right, by means of loudspeakers or other equipment, to publicly perform their performances; provided, this shall not apply to public performances of a performance by means of loudspeakers or other equipment after that performance has been reproduced or publicly broadcast.
Where a sound recording has been publicly performed, the author may claim payment of remuneration for use from the persons who publicly performed it.
Article 26-1
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, authors of works have the exclusive right of public transmission of their works.
Performers have the exclusive right of public transmission of their performances reproduced in sound recordings.
Article 27
Authors of unpublished fine arts or photographic works have the exclusive right to publicly display the original and copies of their works.
Article 28
Authors of works have the exclusive right to adapt their works into derivative works or to compile their works into compilation works; provided, this shall not apply to performances.
Article 28-1
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, authors of works have the exclusive right to distribute their works through transfer of ownership.
Performers have the exclusive right to distribute their performances reproduced in sound recordings through transfer of ownership.
Article 29
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, authors of works have the exclusive right to rent their works.
Performers have the exclusive right to rent their performances reproduced in sound recordings.
Article 29-1
An employer or commissioning party that has obtained the economic rights in a work in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 11 or paragraph 2 of Article 12 shall have exclusive enjoyment of the rights set out in the provisions of Articles 22 through 29.
Subsection 2 Term of Protection for Economic Rights
Article 30
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, economic rights endure for the life of the author and fifty years after the author's death.
Where a work is first publicly released between the fortieth and fiftieth years after the author's death, the economic rights shall endure for a term of ten years beginning from the time of the first public release.
Article 31
Economic rights in a joint work subsist for fifty years after the death of the last surviving author.
Article 32
Economic rights in a pseudonymous work or an anonymous work endure for fifty years from the time of public release; provided, the economic rights shall be extinguished where it can be proven that the author has been deceased for over fifty years.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not apply when the pseudonym of the author is well known to the public.
Article 33
Economic rights in works authored by a juristic person endure for fifty years after the public release of the work; provided, if the work is not publicly released within fifty years from the completion of the creation, the economic rights shall subsist for fifty years after completion of the creation.
Article 34
Economic rights for photographic works, audiovisual works, sound recordings, and performances endure for fifty years after the public release of the work.
The proviso of the preceding article shall apply mutatis mutandis to the preceding paragraph.
Article 35
All terms of duration specified in Articles 30 through 34 terminate as of the last day of the last year of the term.
Where the term of economic rights for works released to the public continuously or successively is calculated on the basis of the date of the public release of the work, if each public release can constitute an independent work, the term of economic rights of each work shall be calculated from the date of each public release; if each public release cannot constitute an independent work, the term shall be calculated from the date of the public release(s) that can constitute an independent work.
With respect to the circumstances described in the preceding paragraph, if the continuing part has not been publicly released within three years of the date of public release of its preceding part, the term of the economic rights shall be calculated from the date of public release of its preceding part.
Subsection 3 Transfer, Exercise, and Extinguishment of Economic Rights
Article 36
Economic rights may be transferred in whole or in part to another person and may be jointly owned with other persons.
The transferee of economic rights obtains economic rights within the scope of the transfer.
The scope of the transfer of the economic rights shall be as stipulated by the parties; rights not clearly covered by such stipulations shall be presumed to have not been transferred.
Article 37
The economic rights holder may license others to exploit the work. The territory, term, content, method of exploitation, and other particulars of the license shall be as stipulated by the parties; particulars not clearly covered by such stipulations shall be presumed to have not been licensed.
The license referred to in the preceding paragraph shall not be affected by subsequent assignment or further licensing of economic rights by the economic rights holder.
A non-exclusive licensee may not sublicense the rights inherent in the license to any third party for exploitation without the consent of the economic rights holder.
An exclusive licensee may, within the scope of the license, exercise rights in the capacity of economic rights holder, and may perform litigious acts in its own name. The economic rights holder may not exercise rights within the scope of an exclusive license.
The provisions of paragraphs 2 through 4 shall not apply to any license conferred prior to the implementation of the November 12, 2001 amendment to this Act.
The provisions of Chapter VII do not apply in the following circumstances except for works subject to the management of copyright collective management organizations:
1. Exploitation of digitized karaoke machines or jukeboxes which contain licensed duplication(s) of music works for public performance; or
2. Rebroadcasting works of an original broadcast; or
3. Communicating the sounds or images of an original broadcast to the public with loudspeaker or other equipment; or
4. Communicating the works to the public through public broadcasting or simultaneous public transmission of advertisement, by a broadcaster, within which such works have been reproduced under authorization.
Article 38
(deleted)
Article 39
Where economic rights are the object of a pledge, unless otherwise stipulated at the time the pledge is created, the economic rights holder may exercise the economic rights to the work.
Article 40
In the case of a joint work, each author's share of the ownership of such a work shall be as stipulated by the joint authors; where no stipulation has been made, ownership shares shall be determined according to the degree of each author's creative contribution. Where the degree of each author's creative contribution is not clear, it shall be presumed that each author owns an equal share.
Where an author of a joint work abandons its share of the ownership of the work, that share shall be apportioned among the other joint authors in proportion to their respective shares.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply mutatis mutandis where the author of a joint work dies with no successor or is extinguished with no receiver.
Article 40-1
Joint economic rights in a work shall not be exercised except with the consent of all the joint economic rights holders; no economic rights holder shall transfer its share to another person or establish a pledge of its share in favor of a third party without the consent of all other joint economic rights holders. A joint economic rights holder shall not refuse consent without a legitimate reason.
The joint economic rights holders of a work may select a representative from among themselves to exercise their economic rights. Limitations imposed on the representative powers of such representative shall not be effective against a third party acting in good faith.
The second and third paragraphs of the preceding article shall apply mutatis mutandis to joint ownership of economic rights.
Article 41
Where an economic rights holder makes a submission to a newspaper or magazine, or licenses the public broadcast of the work, it shall be presumed, unless otherwise stipulated, that the economic rights holder has licensed one printing or one public broadcast only, and that said printing or broadcast shall have no effect on other rights belonging to the economic rights holder.
Article 42
Economic rights are extinguished upon expiration of the term of protection. Economic rights are also extinguished where any of the following circumstances occurs during the term of protection:
1.The economic rights holder has died and the economic rights, for that reason, divest by law to the national treasury.
2.The economic rights holder is a juristic person that has been extinguished and the economic rights, for that reason, divest by law to a local government.
Article 43
Except as otherwise provided by this Act, any person may freely exploit a work for which the economic rights have been extinguished.
Subsection 4 Limitations on Economic Rights
Article 44
Within a reasonable scope, central or local government agencies may reproduce the work of another person if it is considered necessary for internal reference for the purpose of legislation or administration; provided, this shall not apply where such reproduction would prejudice the interests of the economic rights holder due to the type and use of the work and the volume and method of reproduction.
Article 45
Within a reasonable scope, and for the sole purpose of use necessary to judicial proceedings, the works of another person may be reproduced.
The proviso of the preceding article shall apply mutatis mutandis to the circumstances set forth in the preceding paragraph.
Article 46
Within the scope necessary for the purposes of teaching of courses by schools, all levels of legally established schools and their teachers may reproduce, publicly perform and publicly present the works of another person which have already been publicly released.
Under the circumstances in the preceding paragraph, the works of another person that have already been publicly released may be publicly broadcast or publicly transmitted, if reasonable technical measures have been adopted to prevent access by persons who have not registered in the school or have not enrolled in the course.
The proviso of Article 44 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the circumstances set forth in the preceding two paragraphs.
Article 46-1
Within the scope necessary for the purposes of education, all levels of legally established schools or educational institutions and their teachers may publicly broadcast or publicly transmit the works of another person that have been publicly released; provided, this shall not apply if there is profit-seeking activity.
In the circumstances set forth in the preceding paragraph, the exploiter shall notify the economic rights holder of the circumstances of the exploitation and pay equitable remuneration for use.
Article 47
For the purpose of preparing textbooks required by law or regulation to be examined or compiled, the preparer may reproduce, adapt, or compile works that have been publicly released, and may publicly transmit those textbooks.
The provisions of the preceding paragraph, except for public transmission, shall apply mutatis mutandis to the preparation, by the preparers of those textbooks, of supplementary teaching aids that are ancillary to those textbooks and furthermore are exclusively provided to teachers for teaching purposes.
In the circumstances set forth in the preceding two paragraphs, the person exploiting the work shall notify the economic rights holder of the circumstances of the exploitation and pay compensation for use. The rate of compensation for such use shall be set by the competent authority.
Article 48
Libraries, museums, history museums, science museums, art museums, file archives, and other archive institutions open to the public may reproduce works in their collections in any of the following circumstances:
1. Where a patron, for personal research purposes, requests reproduction of a part of a work that has been publicly released, or of a single article from a periodical or from a seminar paper that has been publicly released, and within the limit of one copy per person; provided, this may not be provided as a digital copy.
2. Where preservation of the material is necessary, for purposes of avoiding loss or damage, or where common technology is not available for reading the storage format of the material, and it cannot be obtained through reasonable acquisition on the market.
3. Where works are out of print or difficult to purchase, and have been requested by another similar institution.
4. Where needed for restoration of works during the period of lawful licensing of a digital collection.
The National Central Library, for purposes of promoting national cultural development, may digitally reproduce the following works:
1. Works in the collection to be provided in lieu of the original collection for in-library access to prevent loss, damage, or defacement of the original collection; provided, this shall not apply to works already available on the market in digital form.
2. Materials provided to the public over networks by a central or local government agency or a non-departmental public body.
Works reproduced pursuant to subparagraphs 2 to 4 of paragraph 1 and to subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph, subject to compliance with all the subparagraphs below, or works reproduced pursuant to subparagraph 2 of the preceding paragraph, subject to compliance with subparagraph 2 below, may be publicly transmitted for perusal within the institution:
1. The quantity of the same work that may be made available for perusal by users within the institution at the same time does not exceed the quantity of that work currently held in that institution's collection.
2. The computers or other display equipment made available for purposes of perusal within the institution do not enable users to perform reproduction or transmission.
Works reproduced by the National Central Library pursuant to subparagraph 1 of paragraph 2 may not be exploited for any purpose other than as provided in the preceding paragraph.
Article 48-1
Central or local government agencies, educational agencies that have been established by law, or libraries open to the public may reproduce abstracts appended to the following works where such works have been publicly released:
1.Masters theses or doctoral dissertations written under the "Degree Conferral Act," where the author has obtained a degree.
2.Academic papers published in periodicals.
3.Research reports or collections of seminar papers that have been publicly released.
Article 49
When reporting current events by means of broadcasting, photography, film, newspaper, network, or otherwise, works that are seen or heard in the course of the report may be exploited within the scope necessary to the report.
Article 50
Works publicly released in the name of a central or local government agency or a public juristic person may, within a reasonable scope, be reproduced, publicly broadcast, or publicly transmitted.
Article 51
Within a reasonable scope, where for nonprofit use by an individual or a family, a work that has been publicly released may be reproduced by a machine that is either located in a library or is not provided for public use.
Article 52
Within a reasonable scope, works that have been publicly released may be quoted where necessary for reports, comment, teaching, research, or other legitimate purposes.
Article 53
For the purpose of exclusive use by the visually impaired, learning disabled, hearing impaired or other persons with a perceptual disability, works that have been publicly released may be exploited by local or central government agencies, non-profit organizations and all levels of legally established schools, by means of translation, Braille, sound-recording, digital transformation, verbal imagery, accompanying sign language or otherwise.
The preceding paragraph shall be applied mutatis mutandis to the disabled persons or their guardians referred to in the preceding paragraph for personal and nonprofit use by the disabled.
The copies reproduced in accordance with the preceding two paragraphs may be distributed or publicly transmitted among the disabled persons, local or central government agencies, non-profit organizations and all levels of legally established schools as prescribed in the preceding two paragraphs.
Article 54
Works that have been publicly released may be reproduced for use in examination questions on all kinds of examinations held by central or local government agencies and all levels of schools or educational institutions established in accordance with law; provided, this shall not apply to works that have been publicly released as examination questions.
Article 55
The work of another person that has been publicly released may be publicly recited, publicly broadcast, publicly presented, or publicly performed in the course of an activity of non-profit nature, provided that no fee is directly or indirectly collected from the viewers or listeners, and no compensation is given to the performers.
Article 56
For the purposes of public broadcasting, a radio or television broadcasting organization may, with its own equipment, sound record or video record a work; provided, this shall be limited to situations where the public broadcasting has been licensed by the economic rights holder, or situations otherwise comporting with the provisions of this Act.
Except where preservation of the recording referred to in the preceding paragraph has been approved for a designated place by the specialized agency in charge of copyright matters, such sound or video recordings shall be destroyed within six months from the time of recording.
Article 56-1
For the purpose of enhancing receiving effect, a community antenna installed in accordance with law may simultaneously rebroadcast works broadcast by wireless television stations established in accordance with law; the form and content of such broadcasts shall not be changed.
Article 57
The owner of the original legal copy of an artistic work or photographic work, or a person authorized by the owner, may publicly display such original or legal copy of the work.
The public displayer referred to in the preceding paragraph may reproduce the work in a descriptive writing in order to provide viewers with an explanation or introduction.
Article 58
Artistic works or architectural works displayed on a long-term basis on streets, in parks, on outside walls of buildings, or other outdoor locales open to the public, may be exploited by any means except under the following circumstances:
1.Reproduction of a building by construction of another building.
2.Reproduction of a work of sculpture by production of another sculpture.
3.Reproduction for the purpose of long-term public display in locales specified in this article.
4.Reproduction of artistic works solely for the purpose of selling copies.
Article 59
The owner of a legal copy of a computer program may alter the program where necessary for utilization on a machine used by such owner, or may reproduce the program as necessary for backup; provided, this is limited to the owner's personal use.
If the owner referred to in the preceding paragraph loses ownership of the original copy for any reason other than the destruction or loss of the copy, all altered and backup copies shall be destroyed unless the economic rights holder grants its consent otherwise.
Article 59-1
A person who has obtained ownership of the original of a work or a lawful copy thereof within the territory under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China may distribute it by means of transfer of ownership.
Article 60
Owners of originals of works and lawful copies of works may rent such original works or copies; provided, this shall not apply to sound recordings and computer programs.
The proviso of the preceding paragraph shall not apply to copies of computer programs incorporated in products, machinery, or equipment to be legally rented, where such copies do not constitute the essential object of such rental.
Article 61
Commentary on current political, economic, or social events that has appeared in a newspaper, magazine, or network may be republished by other newspapers or magazines, or be publicly broadcast by radio or television, or publicly transmitted on a network; provided, this shall not apply where there is indication that republishing, public broadcast, or public transmission is not authorized.
Article 62
Public speeches on politics or religion, and public statements made in legal proceedings or during proceedings of central or local government agencies, may be exploited by any person; provided, consent of the economic rights holder shall be obtained when compiling a compilation work that is dedicated to the speeches or statements of specified persons.
Article 63
Persons that may exploit the work of another person in accordance with the provisions of Article 44, Article 45, subparagraph one of Article 48, Articles 48-1 through 50, Articles 52 through 55, Article 61, and Article 62 may translate such work.
Persons that may exploit the work of another person in accordance with the provisions of Articles 46 and 51 may adapt such work.
Persons that may exploit the work of another person in accordance with the provisions of Articles 46 through 50, Articles 52 through 54, paragraph 2 of Article 57, Article 58, Article 61, and Article 62 may distribute such work.
Article 64
A person who exploits the work of another person pursuant to the provisions of Articles 44 through 47, Articles 48-1 through 50, Article 52, Article 53, Article 55, Article 57, Article 58, and Articles 60 through 63 shall provide a clear indication of the source of the work.
The "clear indication of the source" referred to in the preceding paragraph shall indicate the name or appellation of the author in a reasonable manner, except where the work is anonymous or the author is not known.
Article 65
Fair use of a work shall not constitute infringement on economic rights in the work.
In determining whether the exploitation of a work complies with the reasonable scope referred to in the provisions of Articles 44 through 63, or other conditions of fair use, all circumstances shall be taken into account, and in particular the following facts shall be noted as the basis for determination:
1.The purposes and nature of the exploitation, including whether such exploitation is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
2.The nature of the work.
3.The amount and substantiality of the portion exploited in relation to the work as a whole.
4.Effect of the exploitation on the work's current and potential market value.
Where the copyright owner organization and the exploiter organization have formed an agreement on the scope of the fair use of a work, it may be taken as reference in the determination referred to in the preceding paragraph.
In the course of forming an agreement referred to in the preceding paragraph, advice may be sought from the specialized agency in charge of copyright matters.
Article 66
The provisions of Articles 44 through 63 and Article 65 shall not affect the author's moral rights.
Subsection 5 Compulsory Licensing
Article 67
(deleted)
Article 68
(deleted)
Article 69
Where a sound recording of a musical work recorded for sale has been published for six months, a person who wishes to exploit the aforementioned musical work to record and produce other sound recordings for sale may apply to the specialized agency in charge of copyright matters for a compulsory license, and after paying compensation, may exploit such musical work and record and produce other sound recordings.
Regulations governing the compulsory license for a musical work referred to in the preceding paragraph, the method for calculating the compensation for exploitation, and other requisite matters shall be prescribed by the competent authority.
Article 70
Copies of sound recordings which exploit musical works pursuant to the provisions of the preceding article shall not be sold outside of the territory under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China.
Article 71
The specialized agency in charge of copyright matters shall void approval for a compulsory license obtained in accordance with the provisions of Article 69 if the application is found to contain misrepresentations.
The specialized agency shall void approval for a compulsory license obtained in accordance with the provisions of Article 69 if the work is not exploited in the manner approved by the specialized agency.
Article 72
(deleted)
Article 73
(deleted)
Article 74
(deleted)
Article 75
(deleted)
Article 76
(deleted)
Article 77
(deleted)
Article 78
(deleted)