COPYRIGHT LAWS INFORMATION

On 21st December 2000, Parliament passed the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

It introduces a further three rights for creators, which are moral rights as distinct from economic rights. They are:

  1. to be attributed as the author (or creator) of a work
  2. not to have authorship of a work falsely attributed
  3. the right of integrity of authorship (ie. the work must not be subjected to derogatory treatment).

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Right (a) has application to churches in the publication or presentation of songs. It means that the author's name should appear alongside the song. It would apply to things like song sheets compiled by the church and digital or overhead projection of songs. It is not uncommon to see songs presented in churches without the author's name.

A song is not unlike a book or a sermon, where the author or preacher is always identified, for many obvious reasons. Songs should be treated in the same way.

 

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