Tuvalu Copyright Law
CHAPTER 60
COPYRIGHT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Short title
2. Penalties for dealing with infringing copies, etc.
3. Application of section 22 of the Copyright Act 1956
An Ordinance relating to copyright 4 of 1917
4 of 1918
(Cap. 62 of 1952)
Commencement: 13th June 1917
L.N. 16/72
(Cap. 60 of
1973)
Short title
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Copyright Ordinance.
Penalties for dealing with infringing copies, etc.
2. (1) If in Tuvalu any person knowingly-
(a) makes for sale or hire any infringing copy of a work in
which copyright subsists; or
(b) sells or lets for hire, or by way of trade exposes or offers for sale or hire any infringing copy of any such work; or
(c) distributes infringing copies of any such work either for the purposes of trade or to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright; or
(d) by way of trade exhibits in public any infringing copy of any such work; or
(e) imports for sale or hire any infringing copy of any such work;
he shall be liable to a fine of $4 for every copy dealt with in contravention of this section, but not exceeding $100 in respect of the same transaction; or in the case of a second or subsequent offence either to such fine or to imprisonment for 2 months.
(2) If any person knowingly makes, or has in his possession, any plate for the purpose of making infringing copies of any work in which copyright subsists, or knowingly and for his private profit causes any such work to be performed in public without the consent of the owner of the copyright, he shall be liable to a fine of
(3) The court before which any such proceedings are taken may, whether the alleged offender is convicted or not, order that all copies of the work or all plates in the possession of the alleged offender, which appear to it to be infringing copies, be destroyed or delivered up to the owner of the copyright or otherwise dealt with as the court may think fit.
Application of section 22 of the Copyright Act 1956.
3. For the purpose of the application of section 22 of the Copyright Act 1956 to the importation into Tuvalu of works
made out of Tuvalu –
(1)The Minister shall perform the duties and may exercise the powers thereby imposed on or given to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise of the United Kingdom.
(2) Regulations made under that section may provide that notices given to the said Commissioners if communicated by them to the Minister shall be deemed to have been given by the owner of the copyright to the Minister.
(3) That section shall have effect as if it formed part of the Customs Ordinance.
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NOTE: Section 22 of the Copyright Act 1956 of the United Kingdom reads as follows-
22. Provision for restricting importation of printed copies
(1) The owner of the copyright in any published literary, dramatic or musical work may give notice in writing to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise (in this section referred to as "the Commissioners")-
(a) that he is the owner of the copyright in the work, and
(b) that he requests the Commissioners, during a period specified in the notice, to treat as prohibited goods copies of the work to which this section applies:
Provided that the period specified in a notice under this subsection shall not exceed five years and shall not extend beyond the end of the period for which the copyright is to subsist.
(2) This section applies, in the case of a work, to any printed copy made outside the United Kingdom which, if it had been made in the United Kingdom, would be an infringing copy of-the work.
(3) Where a notice has been given under this section in respect of a work, and has not been withdrawn, the importation into the United Kingdom, at a time before the end of the period specified in the notice, of any copy of the work to which this section applies shall, subject to the following provisions of this section, be prohibited:
(4) The Commissioners may make regulations prescribing the form in which notices are to be given under this section, and requiring a person giving such a notice, either at the time of giving the notice or at the time when the goods in question are imported, or at both those times, to furnish the Commissioners with such evidence, and to comply with such other conditions (if any), as may be specified in the regulations; and any such regulations may include such incidental and supplementary provisions as the Commissioners consider expedient for the purposes of this section.
(5) Without prejudice to the generality of the last preceding subsection, regulations made under that subsection may include provision for requiring a person who has given a notice under subsection (1) of this section, or a notice purporting to be a notice under that subsection,-
(a) to pay such fees in respect of the notice as may be prescribed by the regulations;
(b) to give to the Commissioners such security as may be so prescribed, in respect of any liability or expense which they may incur in consequence of the detention, at any time within the period specified in the notice, of any copy of the work to which the notice relates, or in consequence of anything done in relation to a copy so detained;
(c) whether any such security is given or not, to keep the Commissioners indemnified against any such liability or expense as is mentioned in the last preceding paragraph.
(6) For the purposes of section 11 of the Customs and Excise Act 1952 (which relates to the disposal of duties), any fees paid in pursuance of reg-ulations made under this section shall be treated as money collected on account of customs.
(7) Notwithstanding anything in the Customs and Excise Act 1952, a person shall not be liable to any penalty under that Act (other than forfeiture of the goods) by reason that any goods are treated as prohibited goods by virtue of this section.
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Terms of use
Article 1. Contracting parties.
1. The Parties of this Public Offer (paid service agreement), hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement” or “Offer”, are, as follows:
1. The Parties of this Public Offer (paid service agreement), hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement” or “Offer”, are, as follows:
a) Executor is a person, who makes this Offer and who executes this Agreement in accordance with its terms and conditions: Solcity World Investment and Development; and
b) Customer is a person, who accepts this Offer and who is the author of any publication.
Article 2. Acceptance.
1. The Customer shall accept this Offer in case of and after the following activities:
a) fill in and send to the Executor an application in electronic format in the form established by this Agreement and posted on the Executor’s official website; and
b) provide the author’s abstract specifying what material was created by the author; and
c) provide a list of all key words (tags) that enable finding the location of the author’s abstract of the Customer on the Executor’s website; and
d) post (“upload”) the material itself on the Executor’s official website; and
e) pay for the Executor’s services in the amount and following the procedure set forth by this Agreement.
2. The Executor shall verify the Customer’s data and post the information about the Customer and his/her work of authorship on SciReg.org in Internet. From this moment on, the Customer shall be considered as an acceptor of this Offer and a Party to this Agreement.
3. The Executor shall be entitled, without giving any reasons, to refuse the Customer to accept this Offer and the Customer unconditionally, entirely and irrevocably agrees with this provision.
Article 3. Scope of the Agreement.
1. The Executor hereof shall render services on establishing, formation and maintenance of the Copyright register in electronic format on the Executor’s official website in Internet.
2. The Executor hereof shall render to the Customer paid services on posting (publishing) of information about the applicant as the author of the material under the terms and in accordance with this Agreement.
3. The work of authorship shall be understood by the Parties as a subject matter of copyright established by the Civil Code or other laws of the Author’s Country of domicile.
4. The Executor shall publish information (data), hereinafter referred to as the “summary”, about the applicant as the author of the material in the Register posted on the Executor’s official website in Internet under the terms set forth by this Agreement.
5. The Executor shall be entitled, at his own discretion and without coordination with the Customer, to assign his obligations for execution of this Agreement to any third party, and the Customer unconditionally agrees with this provision.
Article 4. Register.
1. The Register shall be an ordered and standardized register containing a summary of the Customer: Author’s information, including co-authors, name of the work of authorship, publication date, author’s abstract revealing the content of the work of authorship and its unique character, as well as a unique number of posting in the Register assigned to the author and his/her material automatically by the Executor, key words (tags) that enable any person to find information about the author and his/her publication posted in the Register on the Executor’s official website in Internet.
2. The author’s abstract shall be a brief description of the author’s publication designating its unique character and showing that the Customer is its author.
3. The Register shall be maintained in electronic form on the Executor’s official website in Internet.
4. Information about the author, work of authorship and other information required by the rules for information posting in the Register, set forth by the Executor, except for the unique number, shall be posted by the Customer individually on the Executor’s official website in Internet.
5. Both the Register and the official website shall be the Executor’s property.
6. Any and all information posted by the Customer in the Register in accordance with the terms set forth by this Agreement shall be the Executor’s property. Hereby, the Customer shall not transfer copyright for his/her work of authorship to the Executor.
7. The rules for maintenance of the Register, its execution, posting of any details (information) in it shall constitute Appendix 1 to this Agreement forming an integral part hereof. The rules shall be issued exclusively by the Executor. The Executor, without coordination with the Customer and the Customer’s consent, shall have the right to make any changes in and/or amendment to the Register maintenance rules and the Customer unconditionally agrees with this provision. The Register maintenance rules shall be unconditionally mandatory for the Customer.
Article 5. Obligations of the Parties.
1. The Parties hereto shall (hereby shall be obliged to) unconditionally, voluntarily, conscientiously, and accurately follow all provisions of this Agreement, as well as any and all supplements, amendments and/or alterations hereto made under the terms set forth by this Agreement.
2. The Customer shall pay for the Executor’s services following the procedure and in the amount established by this Agreement.
3. The Customer, in contemplation of his/her death, shall be obliged to bind defendants to the terms of this Agreement.
4. If the Customer’s copyright is assigned to a third party, he/she shall be obliged to bind such third party to his/her obligations hereunder.
5. The Customer shall have an exclusive right to refer, in any form, to his/her summary (synopsis, author’s abstract) posted in the Register on the Executor’s official website in Internet in case of complete and fair execution of his/her obligations under this Agreement.
Article 6. Payment for the Executor’s services. Agreement price.
1. The Customer shall pay for the Executor’s services following the procedure and in the amount established by the provisions of this Article.
2. The price for one posting by the applicant of one his/her summary in the Register shall be 20 (twenty) US Dollars – price of this Agreement.
3. The procedure for paying the amount set forth by this Article of the Agreement shall be determined in Appendix 1 to this Agreement.
4. The applicant shall pay the amount stated in para 2 of this Article (pay for the Executor’s service) to the Executor at the time of registration.
5. The amounts paid hereunder by the Customer to the Executor shall be nonreturnable.
6. Each Party shall individually pay any and all own taxes, duties and/or fees established by the legislation of the Party in connection with execution of the terms hereof by the Party. Neither party shall be a fiscal agent of the other Party.
Article 7. Withdrawal from the Agreement.
1. The Customer shall be entitled to withdraw from execution of this Agreement in the form of non-payment of a next settlement set forth by this Agreement.
2. The Executor shall have the right, including in his sole discretion, to withdraw from execution of this Agreement without reimbursement to the Customer of any expenses and/or losses (damages), as well as without payment of any penalty and/or penalty fee and/or any other forfeit, and the Customer unconditionally and entirely agrees with this provision, in the following case (cases):
a) failure to pay by the Customer for the services to the Executor in the amount and under the terms set forth by this Agreement; and/or
b) provision of false information by the Customer; and/or
c) any other technical reasons.
Article 8. Information sharing.
1. Unless otherwise provided for in this Agreement, the Parties hereto may share information, and this information for the Parties shall be regarded as official, by phone, fax, sms, Skype, via e-mail and/or in writing (in hard copy).
2. The Parties hereto may share documents and these documents shall be legally effective for the Parties and considered properly received by the Parties by fax, Skype, via e-mail, in writing in hard copy, unless otherwise provided for in this Agreement. A signature affixed to the document forwarded by any Party via e-mail shall be accepted by the Parties. A signature affixed to the document forwarded by any Party by fax shall be accepted by the Parties. A signature affixed to the document forwarded by any Party via Skype shall be accepted by the Parties.
3. Along with the afore-mentioned, the Parties may have electronic documentary interchange and affix their electronic digital signatures (EDS) on any and all documents.
Article 9. Arbitration.
1. All disputes arising between the Parties in relation to interpretation of this Agreement and/or execution of this Agreement shall be settled by the Parties in the form of bilateral negotiations.
2. If the Parties fail to reach a compromise during negotiations, they shall settle their dispute in the arbitration court (arbitration) of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of British Virgin Islands.
3. As the rules of procedural law based on which the Parties shall settle their dispute, the Parties shall accept the rules of arbitration court (arbitration) of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of British Virgin Islands.
4. As the rules of substantive law based on which the Parties settle their dispute, the Parties shall accept this Agreement and rules of international agreements (conventions) regulating copyright legal relationship.
Article 10. Other terms and conditions.
1. This Agreement is made in written and electronic form, in one counterpart, which:
a) Agreement in writing is kept in the Executor’s office, and
b) posted in electronic form on the Executor’s official website in Internet.
2. Alteration, amendments and/or supplements to this Agreement shall be made in written and electronic form by the Executor individually, in a single hard counterpart and a single electronic counterpart posted on the official website in Internet and the Customer unconditionally agrees with this provision.
3. Changes in this Agreement shall be made by the Executor as a new version of the Agreement.
4. If the Customer disagrees with new terms and conditions, he/she shall have a right to withdraw from the Agreement following the procedure and terms set forth by this Agreement.
