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Tanzania
Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, 1999
Chapter 218
- Published in Government Gazette
- Assented to on 2 June 1999
- Commenced on 31 December 1999
- [This is the version of this document as it was at 31 July 2002 to 29 June 2019.]
- [Note: This legislation has been thoroughly revised and consolidated under the supervision of the Attorney General's Office, in compliance with the Laws Revision Act No. 7 of 1994, the Revised Laws and Annual Revision Act (Chapter 356 (R.L.)), and the Interpretation of Laws and General Clauses Act No. 30 of 1972. This version is up-to-date as at 31st July 2002.]
Part I – Preliminary provisions (ss. 1-4)
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act.2. Objectives
In order to promote the creation of literary and artistic works, to safeguard expressions of traditional culture and to further productive activities in the field of communicating to the public authors' works, expression of folklore, other cultural productions and events of general interest, this Act—3. Application
4. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"an audio-visual work" means work that consists of a series of related images which impart the impression of motion, with or without accompanying sounds, susceptible of being made visible and where accompanied by sounds susceptible of being made audible;"author" means the natural person who creates the work;"broadcasting" means the communication of a work, a performance or a sound recording to the public by wireless transmission, including transmission by satellite;"communication to the public" means the transmission by wire, or without wire, of the images or sounds or both, of a work, a performance, a sound recording or a broadcast, in such a way that the images or sounds can be perceived or accessed by persons outside the normal circle of a family and its closest social acquaintances at a place so distant from the place where the transmission, the images or sounds would not be perceivable or accessible and, further, irrespective of whether the persons can receive or access the images or sound at the same place and time, or at different places and/or times individually chosen by them;"computer" means an electronic or similar device having information processing capabilities;"computer program" means a set of instructions expressed in words, codes, schemes or in any other form, which is capable when incorporated in a medium that the computer can read, of causing a computer to perform or achieve a particular task or result;"Court" means the District Court established under the Magistrates' Courts Act 1;"copies of phonograms" means any article which contains sounds taken directly or indirectly from a phonogram and which embodies all or a substantial part of the sounds fixed in that phonogram;"copyright" means the sole legal right to print, publish, perform, film or record a literary or artistic or musical work;"distribution by cable" means the operation by which signals are guided by wire, beam or other conductor device, to the public or any section thereof, for reception;"distribution to the public of the original work or a copy of a work or a sound recording" refers to any act by which such copies are offered to the general public or any section thereof, mainly through appropriate commercial channels;"expression of folklore" means production consisting of characteristic elements of the traditional artistic heritage developed and maintained over generations by a community or by individuals reflecting the traditional artistic expectations of their community;"fixation" means the embodiment of sounds or images or both or representations of sounds or images in a material sufficiently permanent or stable to permit them to be perceived, reproduced or otherwise communicated during a period of more than transitory duration;"Minister" means the minister for the time being responsible for copyright and neighbouring rights;"neighbouring rights" are the secondary right of copyright which performers are entitled;"performers" means actors, singers, musicians, dancers and other persons who act, sing, deliver, declaim, play in or otherwise perform literary or artistic works including expressions of folklore, and variety and circus artists;"phonogram" means any exclusively aural fixation of the sounds of a performance or of other sounds, or of a representation of sounds regardless of the method by which the sounds are fixed on the medium in which the sounds are embodied, and it does not include a fixation of sounds and images, such as the sound track of an audio-visual work;"producer of phonograms" means the person who, or the legal entity which first fixes the sounds of a performance or other sounds;"public exhibition" means a showing of the original or copy of the work—(a)directly;(b)by means of a film, television images or otherwise on screen;(c)by means of any other device or process; or(d)in the case of an audio-visual work, the showing of individual images consequentially,at a place or places where person outside the normal circle of a family and its closest social acquaintances are or can be present, irrespective of whether they are or can be present at the same place and time or at different places and /or times, and where the work can be displayed without communication to the public;"public performance" includes—(a)in the case of a work other than an audio-visual work, the recitation, playing, dancing, acting or otherwise performing the work, or the expression of folklore, either directly or by means of any device or process;(b)in the case of an audio-visual work, the showing of images in sequence and the making of accompanying audible sound; and(c)in the case of a sound recording, making the recording sounds audible, in each case at a place or places where persons outside the normal circles of the family and its closest acquaintances are or can be present, irrespective of whether they are or can be present at the same place and time, or at different places and times or both, and where the performance can be perceived without the need for communication to the public;"published" refers to a work or a phonogram, tangible copies of which have been made available to the public in a reasonable quantity for sale, rental, public lending or for other transfer of the ownership or the possession of the copies, provided that in the case of a work, the making available to the public took place with the consent of the author or other owner of copyright, and in the case of a phonogram, with the consent of producer of the phonogram or his successor in title;"rebroadcasting" means the unchanged broadcasting organisation of the broadcast of another broadcasting organisation;"reproduction" means the making of one or more copies of a work or of a phonogram in any manner or form, including any sound or visual recording or any permanent or temporary storage of the work or phonogram in electronic form;"rights management information" is any information which identifies the author, the work, the performer, the performance of the performer, the producer of the sound recording, the broadcast, or the owner of any right under this Act, or information about the terms and conditions of use of the work, the performance, the sound recording or the broadcast, and any numbers or codes that represent such information, when any of these items of information is attached to a copy of work, fixed performance, a sound recording or a fixed broadcast, or appears in connection with the broadcasting, communication to the public or making available to the public of a work, a fixed performance, a sound recording or a broadcast;"video recording" means the embodiment of interrelated changing images, with or without accompanying sounds, in some enduring material form permitting them to be repeatedly perceived, reproduced or communicated to the public;"works first published in the United Republic of Tanzania" also means works first published abroad but thereafter published in the United Republic of Tanzania within thirty days;"works of joint authorship" means works created by two or more authors in collaboration, in which the individual contributions are indistinguishable from each other.Part II – Copyright (ss. 5-23)
5. Works in which copyright may subsist
6. Derivative works
7. Subject matter not protected
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 5 and 6, protection shall not extend to—8. Substance of copyright
Copyright in a literary and artistic work comprises the exclusive economic and moral rights of the author as provided for under sections 9 to 11.9. Economic rights
10. Right of distribution
11. Moral rights
The author of a protected work shall have the right—12. Free use
13. Temporary reproduction
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 9, the temporary reproduction of a work shall be permitted if all of the following conditions are met—14. Duration of author's right
15. Ownership of copyright
16. Assignment of author’s rights
17. Licences
18. Transfer of rights
Unless otherwise provided for by legislation, the user shall be entitled to transfer the rights conferred on him under the contract for the use of the work only with the consent of the owner of copyright.19. Disproportionate remuneration
If the owner of copyright has conferred the rights to use the work on conditions the effect of which is a gross disproportion between the remuneration paid him by the user of the work and the income from the use thereof, the owner of copyright may request an amendment of the contract so as to secure him an equitable share of the income, corresponding to standards generally prevailing in similar cases, such claim may not be waived in advance, it cannot be enforced, however, after the lapse of two years from the time when the owner of copyright received knowledge of the circumstances which give rise to the claim, and the owner of copyright may not claim to have received such a knowledge after more than five years.20. Non-exercise of exclusive rights
Where the user does not exercise an exclusive right conferred on him by the owner of copyright, the latter may revoke the right concerned if the non-exercise thereof was prejudicial to his legitimate interests. The right of revocation may be exercised only after the expiration of the delay stipulated in the contract for the beginning of the exercise of the right conferred and not earlier than two years after the conferral of same, or if the work to be used was supplied subsequently, from the date of its delivery. In each case the owner of copyright has to notify the user on the proposed revocation, granting him a reasonable additional time, suitable for adequately exercising the right transferred, except for cases where the exercise of the right by the user became impossible or he refused it. The right of revocation may not be waived in advance.21. Contract of future grant
A contract on future grant of rights for the use of works to be created is enforceable. Thereafter rights not specified in detail but only mentioned in general or by reference to their nature, may be terminated by either party by six months notice after a period of four years from the conclusion of the contract.22. General rules of contracts
The general rules of the law of contracts shall apply to other questions relating to contracts for use of authors' works other than uses provided for under this section.23. Contracts for commissioned works
Part III – Protection of expression of folklore against illicit exploitation (ss. 24-30)
24. Protected expression of folklore
This Act protects expression of folklore such as—25. Utilisation subject to authorisation
Subject to the exception provided for in section 26, the following utilisations of the expression of folklore are subject to authorisation by the competent authority when they are made both with gainful intent and outside their traditional or customary context—26. Exceptions
The provisions of section 25 shall not apply in the following cases—27. Acknowledgement of source
In all printed publication, and in connection with any communications to the public, of any identifiable expression of folklore its source shall be indicated in an appropriate manner, by mentioning the community and geographic place from where the expression utilised has been derived. The provisions shall not apply to utilisation referred to in section 26(c) and (d).28. Authorisation
29. Competent authorities
30. Interpretation
Part IV – Protection of performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organisations (ss. 31-35)
31. Acts requiring authorisation of performers
32. Acts requiring authorisation of producers of sound recordings
33. Equitable remuneration for use of sound recordings
34. Acts requiring authorisation of broadcasting organisations
35. Limitations on protection
Sections 31, 32, 33 and 34 shall not apply where the acts referred to in those sections are related to—Part V – Sanctions (ss. 36-43)
36. Civil remedies
37. Action for injunction and damages
38. Right of destruction and similar measures
39. Right of delivery
The injured party may require that the copies and equipment be delivered to him, in whole or in part, for an equitable price which shall not exceed the production cost.40. Responsibility of the proprietor of an enterprise
If a right protected under this Act has been infringed by an employee or agent of an enterprise in the course of his duties to such enterprise, the injured party may also assert the rights provided in sections 37 to 38, with the exception of the right to damages, as against the proprietor of such enterprise. Further claims which may arise from other legal provisions shall not be affected.41. Exceptions
42. Offences and legal sanctions
43. Conservatory and provisional measures
Part VI – Measures, remedies and sanctions against abuses in respect of technical means of protection and rights management information (ss. 44-51)
44. Infringements of technical means of protection and rights management information
45. Regulations
The Minister may make regulations prescribing such matters as are required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed or as are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the provisions of this Act.46. Collective administration of copyright and neighbouring rights
There is hereby established an organisation to be known as the Copyright Society of Tanzania (in this Act referred to as the “Society”) which shall—47. Functions of the society
The functions of the Society shall be—48. Fees, royalties, etc.
For the better performance of its functions, the Society shall, subject to this Act, have power—49. Funds of Society
The funds of the Society shall consist of—50. Society’s accounts and records
51. Society’s composition
Part VII – Transitional provisions (ss. 52-53)
52. Repeal of Act No. 6 of 1966
53. Transitional provision
The provisions of this Act which apply to works, performances, phonograms and broadcasts existing before the date of the coming into effect of this Act, provided that the term of protection had not expired under the former legislation or under the legislation of the country of origin of such works, performances, phonograms or broadcasts that are to be protected under an international treaty to which the United Republic of Tanzania is party, shall not affect contracts on works, performances, sound recordings and broadcasts concluded before the entering into force of this Act.History of this document
01 July 2023 amendment not yet applied
Amended by
Finance Act, 2023
01 July 2022 amendment not yet applied
Amended by
Finance Act, 2022
08 March 2022 amendment not yet applied
30 June 2019 amendment not yet applied
31 July 2002 this version
Consolidation
31 December 1999
Commenced
02 June 1999
Assented to
Cited documents 5
Act 5
1. | Civil Procedure Code | 9621 citations |
2. | Criminal Procedure Act | 7700 citations |
3. | Magistrates’ Courts Act | 2154 citations |
4. | Tanzania Revenue Authority Act | 46 citations |
5. | National Arts Council Act | 5 citations |
Documents citing this one 36
Judgment 23
JOT Documents and Guidelines 6
Government Notice 5
Gazette 1
1. | Tanzania Government Gazette supplement dated 2021-10-21 number 13 |
Journal 1
1. | Law Reformer Journal, Vol. 3, 2011, Number 1 |