This legislation will consolidate and modernize most of the previous legislation and will also implement a number of European Directives.
The scope of the Bill is such that it will be of interest to a wide range of persons, including those involved in the entertainment and media sectors, as well as computing and other high-technology industries.
Many categories of creative individuals and businesses will benefit. The Bill provides exciting new rights which include the following:
- rights for performers;
- rental and lending rights;
- database rights;
- satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission rights;
- moral rights for all authors.
The commitment to protect intellectual property rights and to fight software piracy and other infringements is underlined by the extensive provisions relating to such and the substantial penalties for those offending.
This article was intended to provide general guidelines. Specialist advice should be sought about specific facts.