Copyright law of Ireland is applicable to most typical copyright situations (films, sound recordings books etc.). Protection expires 70 years after the death of the author/creator. Irish law includes a provision for "

fair dealing Fair dealing is a limitation and exception to the exclusive rights granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. Fair dealing is found in many of the common law jurisdictions of the Commonwealth of Nations. Fair dealing is an en ...

," similar to that used by other countries. In 2012, a copyright law was proposed that ''Wired'' compared to

SOPA Sopa or SOPA may refer to: * Sopa (tribe), an Albanian tribe of the Sharr Mountains * Lake Sopa, Albania * School of Performing Arts Seoul, an arts high school in Seoul, South Korea * Senior Officer Present Afloat, a term used in the U.S. Navy ...

and suggested could pass without parliamentary vote.

History

Irish copyright law is subject to EU directive '' 2001/29/EC – Harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society'', most of the provisions of which were transposed into Irish law under the ''Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000''. Irish copyright law was brought into further compliance with the EU directive by the amendment act ''European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2004''. The 2000 Act repeals much earlier Irish copyright law, but not all. Related acts are referenced i
section 10 of the 2000 Act
and these may also be accessed online in the Irish Statute Book. Until 93/98/EEC the term of copyright protection on a work was the life of the author and 50 years after death. From the foundation of the State to 1927, when the first Irish copyright law was passed, there were holes in Irish copyright law.

Duration

Broadly, Irish copyright applies to books for seventy years from the end of the year of death of the author, editor or creator. The term for films is also seventy years, but the expiry conditions are more complex. Unless it is specifically stated in the contract commissioning the work, ownership will vest in the first owner of copyright which will be the person or organisation that was asked to create the work. Notwithstanding the ownership of the copyright, where the employer is a newspaper or periodical, the author may use the work freely for any purpose other than publication in another newspaper or periodical. Where a work is genuinely anonymous or pseudonymous, copyright expires seventy years from the end of the year of creation.

Recordings, broadcast and cable programmes

Sound recordings, and broadcast and cable programmes, are protected for fifty years from first transmission. Musicians' copyright was extended from 50 to 70 years by the Irish Government in 2013.

Typographical arrangements

The arrangement of a publication is protected for fifty years.

Government copyright

Any work created by any officer or employee of the Irish Government or State is protected by Government copyright, which is regulated somewhat differently from general Irish copyright law, and which lasts fifty years from the end of the year in which the work is created. The position of State companies is not clear, so, for example, Ordnance Survey mapping up to the reconstitution of OSi as a state company is copyright for fifty years, while mapping published after that time may, or may not, be subject to a longer term. Since 2005 Government organisations,

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

and state-sponsored bodies are obliged by law to have a permissive reuse policy for copyrighted material under the

Directive on the re-use of public sector information Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information, known as the PSI Directive,
...

. The Government has a dedicated website on the re-use of public sector information a
psi.gov.ie

Oireachtas (parliamentary) copyright

Any Bill or Act of the Oireachtas is protected by Oireachtas copyright for fifty years from the end of the year in which it was made available lawfully to the public. Any work made by or under the direction of a House or Houses of the Oireachtas enjoys similar protection, the copyright vesting in the relevant House, or Houses jointly.

DVD / video copyright

Despite most DVDs' and video cassettes' copyright warnings in Ireland claiming that performance in schools is prohibited, Irish copyright law has a provision that showing "for the purposes of instruction" (i.e. for educational purposes) does not constitute infringement of the copyright of the work.

General expiry

A work whose copyright term is not calculated from the author's death and which is not lawfully made available to the public within 70 years of creation, loses copyright protection.

Copyright libraries

The publisher of any publication in Ireland must deliver within one month of publication copies of the work to the

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland i ...

, the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, and the libraries of

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its ...

, the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a public research university institution in Limerick, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in 1989 in accordance w ...

, and of the four constituent universities of the National University of Ireland; these nine bodies do not need to request such copies. Where such a publication is a serial work, a copy of every issue must be provided. In addition, four other libraries, those of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, may require copies to be provided to them. All of the named bodies may also require an electronic copy of the work, which must be provided if it exists.

References

External links

Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000
– Irish Statute Book.
European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2004
(amends the 2000 Act) �
Irish Legal Information Initiative
{{Copyright law by country Irish law Irish intellectual property law

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...