Copyright Act 1968

Subject to subsection (4), the copyright in a literary work that is a computer program is not infringed by the making of a reproduction of the work if:

the reproduction is made by, or on behalf of, the owner or licensee of the copy (the original copy) from which the reproduction is made; and

the reproduction is made for use only by, or on behalf of, the owner or licensee of the original copy; and

the reproduction is made for any of the following purposes:

to enable the owner or licensee of the original copy to use the reproduction in lieu of the original copy and to store the original copy;

to enable the owner or licensee of the original copy to store the reproduction for use in lieu of the original copy if the original copy is lost, destroyed or rendered unusable;

to enable the owner or licensee of the original copy to use the reproduction in lieu of the original copy, or of another reproduction made under this subsection, if the original copy, or the other reproduction, is lost, destroyed or rendered unusable.

Subject to subsection (4), the copyright in a literary work that is a computer program, and in any work or other subject‑matter held together with the program on the same computer system, is not infringed by the making of a reproduction of the program, or of such a work or other subject‑matter if:

the reproduction is made by, or on behalf of, the owner or licensee of the copy (the original copy) from which the reproduction is made; and

the making of the reproduction is part of the normal back‑up copying of data for security purposes.

Subsection (1) applies in relation to a reproduction of a work made for a purpose referred to in subparagraph (1)(c)(iii) whether or not other reproductions of the work have previously been made for the same purpose from the same copy.

Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to the making of a reproduction of a computer program:

from an infringing copy of the computer program; or

if the owner of the copyright in the computer program has so designed the program that copies of it cannot be made without modifying the program; or

if a licence to use the original copy, given by, or on behalf of, the owner of the copyright in the computer program to the owner of the original copy when the owner of that copy acquired it, has expired or been terminated.

For the purposes of this section, a reference to a copy of a computer program is a reference to any article in which the computer program is reproduced in a material form.

In this section: