Commons:Copyright rules by territory/南アフリカ

This page provides an overview of copyright rules of South Africa relevant to uploading works into Wikimedia Commons. Note that any work originating in South Africa must be in the public domain, or available under a free license, in both South Africa and the United States before it can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. If there is any doubt about the copyright status of a work from South Africa, refer to the relevant laws for clarification.

The Union of South Africa was created on 31 May 1910 as a semi-independent polity under the British crown. It became fully independent on 11 December 1931.

South Africa has been a member of the Berne Convention since 3 October 1928 and the World Trade Organization since 1 January 1995.^[1]

As of 2018 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, listed the Copyright Act, 1978 (Act No. 98 of 1978, as amended up to Copyright Amendment Act 2002) as the main copyright law enacted by the legislature of South Africa.^[1] WIPO holds the text of this law in their WIPO Lex database.^[2]

This was amended by the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Act 2013 (Act No. 28 of 2013) to provide for the recognition and protection of indigenous works.^[3]

• The copyright in photographs and cinematograph films expires 50 years from the end of the year in which the work (1) is made available to the public with the copyright owner's consent; or (2) is first published, whichever is longer. If a work is neither made available to the public or published within 50 years of the making of the work, its copyright expires 50 years from the end of the year in which the work was made.^{[98/2002–2013 3(2)(b)]}
• The copyright in an unpublished literary, musical or artistic work (except a photograph) by an author whose identity is known expires 50 years from the end of the year in which the author dies.^{[98/2002–2013 3(2)(a)]}
• If the work is jointly authored by more than one author, copyright expires 50 years from the end of the year in which in which the last surviving author dies.^{[98/2002–2013 3(4)]}

• If a literary, musical or artistic work, or an adaptation of it, has been published, performed in public, offered for public sale, or broadcast, its copyright expires 50 years from the end of the year in which the first of these acts is done.^{[98/2002–2013 3(2)(a)]} In general, a work is "published" if copies of it have been issued to the public with the copyright owner's consent in sufficient quantities to reasonably meet the public's needs, having regard to the nature of the work.^{[98/2002–2013 1(5)(a)]} A cinematograph film or sound recording is published if copies of it have been sold, let, hired, or offered for sale or hire: section 1(5)(b). However, publication does not include performing a cinematograph film, musical work, or sound recording; broadcasting a work; exhibiting a work of art; or constructing a work of architecture.^{[98/2002–2013 1(5)(d)]}

• Copyright in an anonymous or pseudonymous work expires 50 years from the end of the year in which the work is made available to the public with the copyright owner's consent, or in which it is reasonable to presume that the author died, whichever is shorter. If the author's identity becomes known before this period expires, then the work is treated as a work by an identified author for the purpose of determining when its copyright expires.^{[98/2002–2013 3(3)]}
• The copyright in a literary, musical or artistic work (except for photographs) created by the Government of South Africa expires 50 years from the end of the year in which the work was first published.^{[98/2002–2013 5(3)]}

• Copyright in the following works expires 50 years from the end of the year in which the specified act occurs:
  • Broadcasts – when the broadcast first takes place.^{[98/2002–2013 3(2)(d)]}
  • Programme-carrying signals – when the signals are emitted to a satellite.^{[98/2002–2013 3(2)(d)]}
  • Published editions – when the edition is first published.^{[98/2002–2013 3(2)(f)]} (A "published edition" is the first print by whatever process of a particular typographical arrangement of a literary or musical work.^{[98/2002–2013 1(1)(d)]})
  • Sound recordings – when the recording is first published.^{[98/2002–2013 3(2)(c)]}

No copyright subsists in the following works:^{[98/2002–2013 12(8)]}

• Official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature, or in official translations of such texts.
• Political speeches or speeches delivered in the course of legal proceedings. (However, the author of speeches has the exclusive right to create a collection of such speeches.)
• News of the day that are mere items of press information.

• {{PD-SAGov}} – Work of the South African Government that was published more than 50 years ago.

• {{PD-South-Africa}} – for photographs from South Africa 50 years after publication.
• {{PD-South-Africa-exempt}} – for (images of or from) South African official texts of a legislative, administrative or legal nature.

  : Copyright of the designs of South African banknotes and coins is owned by the South African Reserve Bank. Their document "Policy on the reproduction of images of South African Currency" sets out the policy of the bank in respect to the reproduction of South African coins and banknotes. In short, only news media can produce such images and then only because of time constraints in obtaining formal permission. Under the Copyright Act of 1978, such copyright lasts for 50 years.

   The Copyright Act 1978 of South Africa (as at 18 June 2002), section 15(3), states: "The copyright in an artistic work shall not be infringed by its reproduction or inclusion in a cinematograph film or a television broadcast or transmission in a diffusion service, if such work is permanently situated in a street, square or a similar public place."

A diffusion service is defined in section 1(1) as "a telecommunication service of transmissions consisting of sounds, images, signs or signals, which takes place over wires or other paths provided by material substance and intended for reception by specific members of the public; and diffusion shall not be deemed to constitute a performance or a broadcast or as causing sounds, images, signs or signals to be seen or heard; and where sounds, images, signs or signals are displayed or emitted by any receiving apparatus to which they are conveyed by diffusion in such manner as to constitute a performance or a causing of sounds, images, signs or signals to be seen or heard in public, this shall be deemed to be effected by the operation of the receiving apparatus."

Since section 15(3) does not mention photographs, there is no freedom of panorama exemption in South Africa that would permit photographs of artistic works to be taken without infringing the copyright in the works.

Recent developments

See Freedom of Panorama ZA and meta:Wikimedia South Africa/Copyright Amendement Bill for updates on the efforts by South African Wikimedians to have freedom of panorama introduced in the country.

South African stamps older than 50 years (published before 1 January 1974) are in the public domain, use {{PD-SAGov}}