Papua New Guinea has existing copyright legislation, namely, the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Act 2000.
There is a general tendency for Papua New Guineans to think that copyright only covers music or some form of writing. For this reason, we’ve tried to list below the kind of works that are eligible for copyright protection under the Act.
And before you ask, Papua New Guinea does not have a formal registration process where one can register his or her artistic works to be eligible for copyright protection. Protection is, put simply, automatic!
So let’s see what’s covered under the Act:
- literary and artistic works of original intellectual creations in the literary and artistic domain, including-
- books, pamphlets, articles, computer programs and other writings
- speeches, lectures, addresses, sermons and other oral works
- dramatic, dramatic-musical works, pantomimes, choreographic works and other works created for stage productions
- musical works, with or without accompanying words
- audiovisual works
- works of architecture
- works of drawing, painting, sculpture, engraving, lithography, tapestry and other works of fine art
- photographic works
- works of applied art
- illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography, architecture or science
- derivative works including-
- translations, adaptations, arrangements and other transformations or modifications of works
- collections of works and databases, whether in machine, readable or other forms
- collections of expressions of folklore provided that such collections are original by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents
Please note that this article is only a guide and not intended to be legal advice. Please contact us if you have any questions on [email protected]
