| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to amend and consolidate the Law relating to Copyright. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 46 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 16 December 1911 |
| Commencement | 1 July 1912 |
| Repealed | 5 November 1956 (in the United Kingdom) 21 January 1958 (in India) 1 May 1969 (in Australia) 1 January 1979 (in South Africa) 10 April 1987 (in Singapore) 1 December 1987 (in Malaysia) 1 January 1995 (in New Zealand) 27 June 1997 (in Hong Kong) 25 May 2008 (in Israel) 24 May 2019 (final repeal, in Myanmar) |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | Copyright (British Museum) Act 1915 |
| Repealed by | Copyright Act 1956 and Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986 (in the United Kingdom) Copyright Act 1957 (in India) Copyright Act 1968 (in Australia) Copyright Act, 1978 (in South Africa) Copyright Act 1987 (Singapore) (in Singapore) Copyright Act 1987 (Malaysia) (in Malaysia) Copyright Act 1994 (in New Zealand) Copyright Ordinance (Cap 528) (in Hong Kong) Copyright Law 5778-2007 (in Israel) Literary and Artistic Copyright Law 2019 (in Myanmar)[1] |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Copyright Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 46), also known as the Imperial Copyright Act 1911, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (UK) which received royal assent on 16 December 1911.[2] The act established copyright law in the UK and the British Empire. The act amended existing UK copyright law, as recommended by a royal commission in 1878[3] and repealed all previous copyright legislation that had been in force in the UK.[4] The act also implemented changes arising from the first revision of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1908.[4]
The act came into force in the UK on 1 July 1912, in the Channel Islands (except Jersey) on 1 July 1912, in Jersey on 8 March 1913, and in the Isle of Man on 5 July 1912. The Copyright Act 1911 applied or extended to all parts of the British Empire. In India the act came into force on 30 October 1912 (with some modifications in terms of its application to Indian law enacted in 1914), in Burma (then a province of British India) on 24 February 1914,[5] in Papua on 1 February 1931, and all other British possessions on 1 July 1912. It was subsequently enacted on various dates in the self-governing dominions and "territories under protection" of the British Empire.[6] "The Copyright Act 1911 (extension to Palestine), 1924 Ordinance" covered Mandatory Palestine and later the State of Israel, where in the latter it remained the governing statute until the Israeli 2007 Copyright Act took effect on 25 May 2008.[7]
- ^ "Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 15/2019 - Literary and Artistic Copy Right Law (Burmese) - Myanmar Law Library".
- ^ "Royal Assent Volume 32: debated on Saturday 16 December 1911". Hansard. UK Parliament. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ Macgillivray, E. J., The copyright act, 1911, annotated, 1912
- ^ a b Coyle, Michael (23 April 2003). "The History of Copyright". Lawdit. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
- ^ "The Burma Copyright Act". WIPO Lex Database. World Intellectual Property Organization. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ Patridge, R. C. Barrington (2008). The History of the Legal Deposit of Books. Read Books. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-1-4437-2545-3.
- ^ "Israel: Copyright Act, 2007". WIPO Lex Database. World Intellectual Property Organization. Retrieved 5 January 2024.