Ireland has implemented the Reporting by the press on current events (Art. 5.3(c) 2nd part InfoSoc) exception in Section 221(1)(b) of the Copyright and Related Rights Act. The national exception is much more restrictive than the EU exception.
Implementation summary:
This exception allows for the fair dealing with a performance or recording for the purposes of reporting current events.
Implementation details:
Beneficiaries:
- any user
Purposes:
- reporting current events
Usage:
- any use
Subject Matter:
- performances
- recordings
- records of spoken words (including political speeches and extracts from public lectures or similar works)
Compensation:
- no compensation required
Attribution:
- the copy and communication must be accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgemen
Other Conditions:
- the use must meet the condition for fair dealing
Introduced/last updated: 26 June 2019
Remarks: The exempted use must meet the condition for fair dealing, which means that: - works, performances or recordings must be lawfully made available to the public - the respective use is allowed for a purpose and to an extent which will not unreasonably prejudice the interests of the rightsowner where - the respective use must be accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.
Before 2019 Ireland had a general 'fair dealing for the purpose of reporting current events' exception in Section 51(2) of the Law, that could be interpreted as an implementation of the second hypothesis of art 5(3)(c) of the InfoSoc Directive. According to the previous wording of Section 51, 'Fair dealing with a work (other than a photograph) for the purpose of reporting current events shall not infringe copyright in that work, where the report is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement'. Curiously, in 2019 the Irish legislator removed the provision in its entirety and replaced it with a 'press review' exception in implementation of the first hypothesis of art 5(3)(c). However, the reference to 'reporting current events' in Section 221(1)(b) CA covering exceptions for the use of recordings or performances has not been modified in 2019. Section 89(1) also partially covers uses for the purpose of reporting of current events. Nevertheless, Section 89(1) can be more strongly associated with the model clause of art 5(3)(f) of the InfoSoc Directive, since it covers the use of records of spoken words, including political speeches and extracts from public lectures or similar works.
In Ireland there is no overall distinction made between works of authorship and related rights. The provisions relating to ownership, duration, permitted acts, dealings and so forth, apply in the absence of a specific exclusion to every 'work', with ‘work’ defined as a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, sound recording, film, broadcast, cable programme, typographical arrangement or a published edition, or an original database, and includes a computer programme. Performances and works protected by the database right are dealt with separately to the main scheme. (see Linda Scales in ‘Ireland’ (2019), B Lindner and T Shapiro (eds), Copyright in the Information Society, Elgar Intellectual Property Law and Practice, 471). In this respect, the exception for 'reporting current events' does not cover any of these objects.
The 'reporting of current events' exception also does not technically extend to press publications, since the new section 13(4) of S.I. No 567 of 2021 introduces a reference solely to the new 'press review' hypothesis under Section 51(2).
