Protection of Performers, Producers of Sound Recordings and Broadcasting Organisations
Neighbouring Rights are property rights which subsist in performances, sound recordings and broadcasts and is sometimes referred to as “Related Rights”, a term in Copyright Law, used in opposition to the term “Authors’ Rights“. The term Neighbouring Rights is exactly equivalent, and is a more literal translation of the original French droits voisins, as related rights in Civil Law are similar to that of Authors’ Rights, but are not connected with the work’s actual author. Both Authors’ Rights and Related Rights are Copyrights in the sense of English or U.S. law. There is no single definition of related rights, which vary widely in scope between different countries than that of Authors’ Rights.
(Local protection of Performers, Producers and Broadcasters rights are provided for in the Copyright act of Trinidad & Tobago, amended version 2008) under Neighbouring Rights.
The Copyright Act of Trinidad and Tobago, 2008. Part VI, Ownership and Assignment 26
(1) Subject to the provisions of subsections (2) to (5), the original owner of Copyright is the author who has created the work. (1A) Subject to the provisions of section 25 and subsections (7) to (9), the original owners of Neighbouring Rights in— (a) a performance, is the performer in the performance; (b) a sound recording, is the producer of the sound recording; and (c) a broadcast, is the broadcasting organisation. (2) In respect of a work of joint authorship, the coauthors shall be the original owners of Copyright, but if a work of joint authorship consists of parts that can be used separately and the author of each part can be identified, the author of each part shall be the original owner of copyright in the part that he has created. (3) In respect of a collective work, the natural person or legal entity at the initiative and under the direction of whom or which the work has been created shall be the original owner of copyright. (4) In respect of a work created by an author employed by a natural person or legal entity in the course of his employment, the original owner of copyright shall be, unless provided otherwise by agreement, the employer.
Offences by bodies corporate. [5 of 2008].
Where an offence under this Part committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate commits an offence and in the case of an officer of such body corporate, is liable, upon conviction, to a fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and to imprisonment for ten years and in the case of the body corporate, is liable upon conviction, to a fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 43. No prosecution for an offence under this Act