Copyright Act 1956

33 Provisions as to international organisations

(1) Where it appears to Her Majesty that one or more sovereign Powers, or the government or governments thereof, are members of an organisation, and that it is expedient that the provisions of this section should apply to that organisation, Her Majesty may by Order in Council declare that the organisation is one to which this section applies.

(2) Where an original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is made by or under the direction or control of an organisation to which this section applies in such circumstances that—

(a) copyright would not subsist in the work apart from this subsection, but

(b) if the author of the work had been a British subject at the time when it was made, copyright would have subsisted in the work immediately after it was made and would thereupon have vested in the organisation,

copyright shall subsist in the work as if the author had been a British subject when it was made, that copyright shall continue to subsist so long as the work remains unpublished, and the organisation shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be entitled to that copyright.

(3) Where an original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is first published by or under the direction or control of an organisation to which this section applies, in such circumstances that, apart from this subsection, copyright does not subsist in the work immediately after the first publication thereof, and either—

(a) the work is so published in pursuance of an agreement with the author which does not reserve to the author the copyright (if any) in the work, or

(b) the work was made in such circumstances that, if it had been first published in the United Kingdom, the organisation would have been entitled to the copyright in the work,

copyright shall subsist in the work (or, if copyright in the work subsisted immediately before its first publication, shall continue to subsist) as if it had been first published in the United Kingdom, that copyright shall subsist until the end of the period of fifty years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published, and the organisation shall, subject to the provisions of Part VI of this Act, be entitled to that copyright.

(4) The provisions of Part I of this Act, with the exception of provisions thereof relating to the subsistence, duration or ownership of copyright, shall apply in relation to copyright subsisting by virtue of this section as they apply in relation to copyright subsisting by virtue of the said Part I.

(5) An organisation to which this section applies which otherwise has not, or at some material time otherwise had not, the legal capacities of a body corporate shall have, and shall be deemed at all material times to have had, the legal capacities of a body corporate for the purpose of holding, dealing with and enforcing copyright and in connection with all legal proceedings relating to copyright.