Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

2.   Interpretation

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   (1)   For the purposes of this Act—

“adaptation” includes—

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   (a)     in relation to a computer program, a version of the program in which it is converted into or out of a computer language or code, or into a different language or code otherwise than incidentally in the course of running the program;

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   (b)     in relation to a literary work in a non-dramatic form, a version of the work (whether in its original language or in a different language) in a dramatic form;

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   (c)     in relation to a literary work in a dramatic form, a version of the work (whether in its original language or in a different language) in a non-dramatic form;

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   (d)     in relation to a literary work (whether in a non-dramatic form or in a dramatic form)—

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      (i)     a translation of the work, or

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      (ii)     a version of the work in which the story or action is conveyed solely or principally by means of pictures in a form suitable for reproduction in a book or in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical; and

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   (e)     in relation to a musical work, an arrangement or transcription of the work;

“article” in the context of an article in a periodical, includes an item of any description;

“artistic work” means—

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   (a)     a graphic work, photograph, sculpture or collage, irrespective of artistic quality;

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   (b)     a work of architecture being a building or a model of a building, irrespective of artistic quality; or

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   (c)     a work of artistic craftsmanship to which neither paragraph (a) nor paragraph (b) applies;

“author” means the person who creates a work, being—

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   (a)     in relation to a literary work, the author of the work;

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   (b)     in relation to a musical work, the composer;

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   (c)     in relation to an artistic work other than a photograph, the artist;

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   (d)     in relation to a photograph, the person taking the photograph,

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   and, where the context requires, shall be taken to be in relation to—

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      (e)     a sound recording or film, the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the making of the recording or film are undertaken;

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      (f)     the typographical arrangement of a published edition, the publisher;

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      (g)     a broadcast, the person making the broadcast as described in section 6(2) or, in the case of a broadcast which relays another broadcast by reception and immediate re-transmission, the person making that other broadcast;

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      (h)     a cable programme, the person providing the cable programme service in which the programme is included;

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      (i)     a computer-generated literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken;

“broadcast” means a transmission by wireless telegraphy of visual images, sounds or other information which—

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   (a)     having regard to section 7, is capable of being lawfully received by members of the public; or

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   (b)     is transmitted for presentation to members of the public;

“to broadcast” means to transmit, by the emission of electromagnetic energy otherwise than over a path that is provided by a material substance, visual images or sounds, or other information, irrespective of the form in which the sounds, images or information are represented for reception by the public although—

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   (a)     subsequent to the initial transmission, but before reception by the public, the images or sounds may be carried on a path provided by a material substance;

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   (b)     the public receiving, or capable of receiving, the images or sounds is in a country other than that from which the original transmission took place;

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   (c)     no member of the public actually receives the images or sounds, provided only that members of the public could, if in possession of suitable apparatus, receive them;

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   and “broadcasting” and “re-broadcasting” have corresponding meanings;

“building” includes any fixed structure of any kind;

“business” includes a trade or profession;

“cable programme” means any item included in a cable programme service, and any reference in this Act—

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   (a)     to the inclusion of a cable programme or work in a cable programme service is a reference to its transmission as part of the service; and

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   (b)     to the person including it is a reference to the person providing the service;

“cable programme service” means a service which consists wholly or mainly in sending visual images, sounds or other information, irrespective of the form in which the images, sounds or information are represented, by means of a telecommunications system, otherwise than by wireless telegraphy, for reception—

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   (a)     at 2 or more places (whether for simultaneous reception or at different times in response to requests by different users); or

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   (b)     for presentation to members of the public,

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   and which is not, or to the extent that it is not, excepted by Regulations made under this Act;

“collective works” means—

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   (a)     a work of joint authorship, or

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   (b)     a work in which there are distinct contributions by different authors or in which works or parts of works of different authors are incorporated;

“communication to the public” is the transmission by wire or wireless means, of the images or sounds, or both, of a work, a performance or a sound recording in such a way that the images or sounds can be perceived by persons outside the normal circle of a family and its closest social acquaintances at a place or places so distant from the place where the transmission originates that, without the transmission, the images or sounds would not be perceivable and further, irrespective of whether the person can receive the images or sounds at the same place and time, or at different places or times;

“Comptroller” means Comptroller of Customs;

“computer-generated work” means a work generated by a computer in circumstances such that the work has no human author;

“computer program” means a set of instructions whether expressed in words or in schematic or other form, which is capable, when incorporated in a machine-readable medium, of causing an electronic or other device having information-processing capabilities to indicate, perform or achieve a particular function, task or result;

“copy” in relation to—

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   (a)     a work that is a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, means a reproduction of a work in any material form, and, in respect of an artistic work, includes a reproduction in 3-dimensions, if the artistic work is a 2-dimensional work and a reproduction in 2 dimensions if the artistic work is a 3-dimensional work; and, in respect of a literary, dramatic or musical work, includes a reproduction in the form of a record or film;

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   (b)     a work that is a film, television broadcast or cable programme, includes a photograph of the whole or any substantial part of any image forming part of the film, broadcast or cable programme;

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   (c)     a work that is a typographical arrangement of a published edition, means a facsimile copy of the arrangement; and

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   (d)     any category of work includes any copy of the work, however made and in whatever medium, that is transient or is incidental to some other use of the work;

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   and copy includes storing a work of any description in any medium by electronic means;

“copyright” means copyright subsisting under Part 2 of this Act;

“country” includes any territory;

“distribution” means the distribution to the public, for commercial purposes, of copies of a work by way of rental, lease, hire, loan or similar arrangement and distributing has a corresponding meaning;

“dramatic work” includes—

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   (a)     a choreographic show or entertainment in dumb show; and

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   (b)     a scenario or script for a film but does not include a film as distinct from the scenario or script;

“drawing” includes a diagram, map, chart or plan;

“educational establishment” means any school, college or other educational body designated, either individually or by reference to a class, for the purposes of this Act by the Minister by order;

“engraving” includes an etching, lithograph, product of photogravure, woodcut, print or similar work, not being a photograph;

“exclusive recording contract” means a contract between a performer and another person under which that person is entitled, to the exclusion of all other person, including the performer, to make recordings of one or more of his or her performances with a view to their being sold or let for hire, or shown or played in public;

“film” means a recording on any medium from which a moving image may by any means be produced;

“future copyright” means copyright which will or may come into existence in respect of any future work or class of works or on the coming into operation of this Act, or on the occurrence of 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 section 28(1);

“graphic work” includes—

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   (a)     any painting, drawing, diagram, map, chart or plan; and

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   (b)     any engraving, etching, lithograph, woodcut or similar work;

“High Court” means the High Court of Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court;

“illicit recording” means—

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   (a)     for the purposes of a performer's rights, a recording of the whole or a substantial part of a performance of his or her, if it is made, otherwise than for private purposes, without his or her consent;

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   (b)     for the purposes of the rights of a person having recording rights under an exclusive recording contract, a recording of the whole or any substantial part of a performance subject to the exclusive recording contract, if it is made, otherwise than for private purposes, without his or her consent or that of the performer;

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   (c)     for the purposes of any offence under this Act, a recording which is an illicit recording by virtue of either paragraphs (a) or (b) of this definition;

“infringing copy” in relation to a protected work means—

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   (a)     any copy of the work, the making of which constitutes an infringement of the copyright in the work;

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   (b)     any copy of the work that is or is proposed to be imported into Saint Lucia and its making in Saint Lucia would have constituted an infringement of the copyright in the work of a breach of an exclusive agreement relating to that work;

“literary work” means any work, other than a dramatic or musical work, which is written, spoken or sung, and accordingly includes—

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   (a)     a written table or compilation;

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   (b)     a computer program;

“manuscript” in relation to a work, means the original document embodying the work whether written by hand or not;

“Minister” means the Minister responsible for copyright;

“owner of rights” means a legal or natural person who owns the rights to work;

“performance” in relation to—

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   (a)     copyright in a protected work includes—

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      (i)     delivery in the case of lectures, addresses, speeches and sermons, and

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      (ii)     any mode of visual or acoustic presentation, including presentation by means of a sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme, of the work;

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   (b)     the rights conferred under Part 9, means—

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      (i)     a dramatic performance which includes dance and mime,

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      (ii)     a musical performance, or

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      (iii)     a reading or recitation of a literary work,

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   which is, or to the extent that it is, a live performance given by one or more individuals;

“person having recording rights” in relation to a performance (as defined in paragraph (b) of the definition of that expression in this section) means a person who, being a qualified person—

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   (a)     is either a party to and has the benefit of an exclusive recording contract to which the performance is subject or is a person to whom the benefit of such a contract has been assigned; or

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   (b)     is licensed to make recordings of the performance with a view to their being sold or let for hire or shown or played in public, by a person who is within the definition in paragraph (a) but is not a qualified person;

“photograph” means a recording of light or other radiation on any medium on which an image is produced or from which an image may by any means be produced, irrespective of the form in which the recording is represented, and which is not part of a film;

“place of public entertainment” includes any premises which are made available for hire to such persons as may desire to hire them for purposes of public entertainment, including premises that are occupied mainly for other purposes;

“prospective owner” has the meaning assigned to it in the definition of “future copyright”;

“protected work” means a work in which copyright subsists by virtue of this Act;

“published edition” in the context of copyright in the typographic arrangement of a published edition, means a published edition of the whole or any part of one or more literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works;

“qualified person”—

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   (a)     in the case of an individual, means a person who is a citizen of Saint Lucia or who is domiciled or resident in Saint Lucia; and

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   (b)     in the case of a body corporate, means a body incorporated or established under any written law of Saint Lucia;

“qualifying performance” means a performance that—

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   (a)     is given by an individual who is a qualified person; or

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   (b)     takes place in Saint Lucia or a specified country;

“record” means any disc, tape, perforated roll or other device in which sounds are embodied so as to be capable of being reproduced therefrom, irrespective of the form in which the sounds are represented, other than a soundtrack associated with a film, but includes, in relation to a performance, a film incorporating the performance;

“recording”, in relation to a performance, means a film or sound recording—

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   (a)     made directly from the live performance;

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   (b)     made from a broadcast of, or cable programme including, the performance; or

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   (c)     made, directly or indirectly, from another recording of the performance;

“Registrar” means the Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property;

“rental” means any arrangement under which a copy of a work is made available—

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   (a)     for payment (in money or money's worth); or

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   (b)     in the course of a business, as part of services or for amenities for which payment is made,

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   on terms that it will or may be returned;

“sculpture” includes a cast or model made for purposes of sculpture;

“sound recording” means—

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   (a)     a recording of sounds from which the sounds may be reproduced; or

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   (b)     a recording of the whole or any part of a literary, dramatic or musical work from which sounds reproducing the work or part of it may be produced,

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   regardless of the medium on which the recording is made or the method by which the sounds are reproduced or produced or the form in which the sounds are represented;

“specified country” means a country specified by the Minister by order under section 153;

“wireless telegraphy” means the emitting or receiving, otherwise than over a path that is provided by a material substance, of electro-magnetic energy transmitting visual images or sounds, or both;

“work” means—

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   (a)     a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work;

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   (b)     a sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme;

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   (c)     the typographical arrangement of a published edition;

“work of joint authorship” means a work produced by the collaboration of 2 or more authors in which the contribution of each author is not separate from the contribution of the other author or authors;

“writing” includes any form of notation, whether by hand or by printing, typewriting or any other process.

(Amended by Act 7 of 2000)

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   (2)   References in this Act to the time at which, or the period during which, a literary, dramatic or musical work was made are references to the time or period at or during which it was first written down, recorded or expressed in some other material form.