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Supplement Part I
OFFICIAL GAZETTE
THE BAHAMAS PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
NASSAU 24th June, 2004 Acr /{o .a_ No. 25
No.2 of2004
AN ACT TO AMEND THE COPYRIGHT ACT
[Date of Assent-24th June, 2004]
Enacted by the Parliament of The Bahamas
Short title 1.(1) This Act, which amends the Copyright Act, may be cited
and as the Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2004.
commence- (2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as the
ment. , I. Minister may, by notice published in the Gazette, appoint. O<f - ft:!t0"f . Ch. 323.
Amendment 2. Subsection (1) of section 2 of the principal Act is amended-
of section 2 (a) in the: insertion in th i1 appropriate alphabetical order
of principal of the following definitions -
Act. "broiidcast" means the transmission by wireless telegraphy
of visual images, sounds or other information for
reception by or presentation to members of the public
and references to "broadcasting" shall be construed
accordingly;
"cable programme'' .means any item included in a cable
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programme service;
"cable programme service" means a service which consists
wholly or mainly in sending visual images, sounds
or:.other.information t0r recePtion by or presentation
to members of the public by means of a
telecommunications sys_tem other than wireless
. telegraphy; however the term does not include -
(a) service or part of a service of which it is an
essential feature that while visual images,
sounds or other information are being
conveyed by the person providing the service
there will or may be sent from each place of
reception, by means of the same system or (as
the case may be) the same part of it,
information (other than signals seni for the'
- operation or control of the service) tO;
reception by the person providing the service
or adler persons receiving it;
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(b) a service run for the purpose of a business
where
(i) no person except the person carrying
on the business is concerned in the
control of the apparams comprised in
the system;
(ii) the visual images, sounds or other
information are conveyed by the system
solely for purposes internal to the
rulllling of the business and not by way
of rendering a service or providing
amenities for others; and
(iii) the system is not connected to any other
telecommunications systenl;
(c) a service run by a single individual where
(i) all the apparatus comprised in the
system is under his control;
(ii) the visual images, sounds or other
information conveyed by the system are
conveyed solely for domestic purposes
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(iii)
(d)
(i)
(ii)
(e)
of his; and
the system is not connected to any other
telecommunications system;
services where-
all the apparatus comprised in the
system is situated in, or connects,
premises which are single occupation;
and
the system is not connected to any
other telecommunications system,
other than services operated as part of
the amenities provided for residents or
inmates of premises run as a business;
and
services which are, or to the extent that they
are, run for persons providing broadcasting or
cable programme services or providing
programmes for such services;
"electronic" means acmated by electric, magnetic, electro
i:nagnetic, electro-chemical or electro-mechanical
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energy, and "in electronic form" means in a form
usable only by electronic means;
·''future-·copyright" means-copyright which will or may come
into existence in ·respect of any future work or class
of works or other subject-matter, or on the coming
into operation of any provisions of this Act, or in
any other future event, and "prospective owner" shall
be construed accordingly and, in relation to any such
copyright, includes a person prospectively entitled
thereto by virtue of such an agreement as is
mentioned in subsection (1) of section 22A;
"telecommunications systemu means a system for conveying
visual images, sounds or other information by
electronic means;
"wireless telegraphy" means the sending of electro
magnetic energy over paths not provided by a
material substance construed or arranged for
that purpose;".
(b) by the deletion of the definition of "secondary
transmission" and the replacement thereof of
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the following
"secondary transmission" means the simultaneous
' transmission of a primary transmission, ·unless
delayed for technical reasons, but does not include
any transmission over the Internet or any similar
means of online delivery without the consent of the
copyright owner;".
Amendment 3. Subsection (1) of section 9 of the principal Act is amended by the
of section repeal and replacement of paragraphs (d) and (e) with the following paragraphs
9 of the "(d) in the case of a literary, musical, dramatic and
principal choreographic, and motion pictures and other audiovisual
Act. works, to perform the copyright work publicly;
(e) in the case of a literary, musical, dramatic and
choreographic, artistic works, including the individual
sequence images of a motion picture audiovisual work, to
display the copyright work publicly; and
(!) to broadcast the copyright work or include it in a
cable programme service.".
Amendment 4. Subsection (4) of section 12 of the principal Act is repealed
of section and replaced as follows
6.
12 of the
principal
Act.
Amendment
of section
22 of the
principal
Act.
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"(4) In this section
"derogatory treatment" means, in relation to a work,
any distortion, mutilation or other modification of
that work which would be prejudicial to its author's
reputation.".
5. Subsection (2) of section 22 of the principal Act is repealed and
replaced as follows
(2) A licensee under an exclusive licence shall have the same
rights against a successor in title who is bound by the licence as he has against
the person granting the licence.".
Insertion The principal Act is amended by the insertion inm1ediately after
of new section 22 of the following section
section 22A "Future 22A. (1) Where by an agreement made
into the copy in relation to any furure copyright, and signed
principal right. by or on behalf nf the prospective owner of the
Act. copyright, the prospective owner purports to assign
the furure copyright (in whole or in part) to another
person (in this subsection referred to as "the
assignee"), then, if on the coming into existence of
the copyright, the assignee or a person claiming
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under him would, apart from this subsection, be
entitled as against all other persons to require the
copyright to be vested in him (in whole or in part, as
the case may be), the copyright shall, on its coming
into existence, vest in the assignee or his successor in
title accordingly by virtue of this subsection and
without further assurance.
(2) Where, at the time when any
copyright comes into existence, the person who, if he
were then living, would be entitled to the copyright is
dead, the copyright shall devolve as if it had subsisted
immediately before his death and he had then been
the owner of the copyright.
(3) Where a licence is granted by a
prospective owner of arty copyright, that licence shall
be binding upon every successor in title to his interest
in the copyright, except a purchaser in good faith for
valuable consideration and without notice (actual or
constructive) of th.e licence or a person deriving title
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Amendment
of section
75 of the
principal
Act.
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Amendment
of section
83 of the
principal
Act.
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from such a purchaser; and references in this Act, in
relation to any copyright, to the doing of anything
with or without (as the case may be), the licence of
the prospective owner of the copyright shall be
construed accordingly.".
7. Section 75 of the principal Act is amended
(a) in paragraph (b), by the insertion innnediately after the
word "if" of the words "and to the extent that";-and
(b) by the repeal of paragraph (f) and the re-lettering of
paragraphs (g) and (h) as paragraphs (f) and (g)
respectively; and
(c) in the new paragraph (f), by the insertion of the word "the"
after the words "directed to" occurring therein.
8. Section 83 of the principal Act is amended by renmnbering the
section as subsection (1) and by the insertion thereafter of the following
(2) For the purposes of this section "transmiSsion" means
conmmnication and reception over the air and not encrypted.
(3) For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that
this section shall not apply to the Internet.".
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1\.mendment 9. Section 132 of the principal Act is amended by renumbering the
of section section as subsection (I) and by the insertion thereafter of the following
132 of the (2) The Performers• Protection Act is repealed.".
principal
Act.
Ch..348
1987 Revised
Edition.