COMMONS AMENDMENTS (Hansard, 2 November 1988)

§ Lord Young of Graffham
My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 16. In doing so, I trust that it will be convenient if I speak also to 'Amendments Nos. 49 to 51, 75, 78, 84, 154, 300 and 307.
It will sometimes be the case that it is not possible to ascertain who is the author of a particular work. This can place the public in a difficult position when the work is an old one, since if the author cannot be identified it is not always possible to say whether the work is still in copyright. Clause 57 therefore provides that there is no infringement in respect of acts carried out at a time when it is reasonable to assume the author has been dead for 50 years. But this is not wholly satisfactory, since in some cases the term of copyright does not depend on the life of the author; for example, the copyright in computer-generated works and Crown copyright.
A computer-generated work is one which, by definition, has no human author. Copyright in computer-generated literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works is to last for 50 years from when the work is made and Amendment No. 16 will make it clear that this is always so by removing any suggestion that subsections (1) and (2) apply to such works.
It is clearly inappropriate that the Clause 57 exception should be related to the life of the author in a case in which the copyright term is independent of it. The question in the case we are considering should not be, "Is it reasonable to assume the author has been dead 50 years?", but rather, "Is it reasonable to assume the copyright has expired?". The author in the case of computer-generated works will in many cases be a corporate body where the question posed by Clause 57 is not relevant anyway. Sub-paragraph (i) to be inserted by Amendment No. 49 will solve this difficulty.
The assumption about the author being dead for 50 years is to be retained. This provides a practical end to the otherwise unlimited term of copyright enjoyed by unpublished anonymous works.
The provision relating to the author's death in subparagraph (ii) cannot apply to Crown copyright works nor in respect of any copyright vested in an international organisation by virtue of Clause 158 which has a duration longer than 50 years. Neither of these terms is dependent on the life of the author and could last beyond 50 years after the authors death. However the new provision in subsection (1)(b)(i) will mean that such works can be used when it is reasonable to assume copyright has expired.
If the copyright should not be exercisable in the very special circumstances we are discussing, nor should the moral rights conferred by Chapter IV, and Amendments Nos. 75, 78 and 84 will ensure that. The other amendments in this group are consequential.

§ Lord Williams of Elvel
My Lords, we believe that these amendments are generally desirable and 208 improve the Bill. The only question I have concerns Amendment No. 75, which relates to moral rights. I ask the Secretary of State whether I am right in believing that this amendment, if agreed to by your Lordships, complicates the problem of assertion of moral rights by pseudonymous authors who may at some time wish to come out of cover, as it were, and assert their moral rights. I am asking whether the question of moral rights and the assertion of them by pseudonymous authors is affected adversely by Amendment No. 75.

§ Lord Young of Graffham
My Lords. I do not believe that it is.