Selected year snapshot
For 2024, the active event in this file is Copyright Act (UK), 1956 (as extended to Montserrat).
100%
Current rationale
As of 1990-01-01, Montserrat — a British Overseas Territory — had its copyright law governed by the UK Copyright Act 1956, which was extended to Montserrat by Order in Council. The UK Copyright Act 1956, Section 6(1), provided fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for purposes of research or private study. 'Fair dealing' covers any act restricted by copyright (not only reproduction), and is open to any user and any type of work. This yields GREEN. The UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 was not extended to Montserrat; the 1956 Act remained in force. However, I was unable to retrieve the full verbatim text of the 1956 Act as extended to Montserrat via web search, so the excerpt fields are left empty. The classification is based on the well-known text of Section 6(1) of the UK Copyright Act 1956. Classification-neutral factors (non-commercial purpose, single copy limits) were not factored into the color.
Exceptions considered
Fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for purposes of research or private study — covers any dealing (not limited to reproduction), any user, any of the listed work types
Fair dealing for purposes of criticism or review
Library copying provisions — libraries may make copies for persons requiring them for research or private study
Law changes
Copyright Act (UK), 1956 (as extended to Montserrat)
Baseline · Effective 1990-01-01
100%
Relevant section: Section 6 (fair dealing), Section 9 (libraries)
Dates: Effective 1990-01-01
Why this score
As of 1990-01-01, Montserrat — a British Overseas Territory — had its copyright law governed by the UK Copyright Act 1956, which was extended to Montserrat by Order in Council. The UK Copyright Act 1956, Section 6(1), provided fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for purposes of research or private study. 'Fair dealing' covers any act restricted by copyright (not only reproduction), and is open to any user and any type of work. This yields GREEN. The UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 was not extended to Montserrat; the 1956 Act remained in force. However, I was unable to retrieve the full verbatim text of the 1956 Act as extended to Montserrat via web search, so the excerpt fields are left empty. The classification is based on the well-known text of Section 6(1) of the UK Copyright Act 1956. Classification-neutral factors (non-commercial purpose, single copy limits) were not factored into the color.
Exceptions considered
Fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for purposes of research or private study — covers any dealing (not limited to reproduction), any user, any of the listed work types
Fair dealing for purposes of criticism or review
Library copying provisions — libraries may make copies for persons requiring them for research or private study
Copyright Act (Cap. 14.08, Revised Laws of Montserrat)
Current law confirmation · Effective 2025-01-01
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Dates: Effective 2025-01-01
Why this score
As of 2025, Montserrat has a Copyright Act in force (listed in the Revised Laws of Montserrat as at 1 January 2019). The Act is confirmed to exist by the official government website. However, the full statutory text could not be retrieved via any online source. Without the text, the specific research/private study exceptions cannot be identified or classified. The status is AMBIGUOUS because the content of the law could not be verified from primary statutory text. Based on the OECS model copyright legislation pattern followed by neighboring jurisdictions (Dominica, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda), the Act very likely contains fair dealing provisions for research and private study that would classify as GREEN, but this cannot be confirmed. No TDM-specific provisions are expected given the regional legislative pattern. Classification-neutral factors were not considered.
Source links
Copyright Act (Cap. 14.08, Revised Laws of Montserrat)
Relevant update · undated in this pass
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Why this score
The Government of Montserrat's official list of revised laws (as at 1 January 2019) includes a 'Copyright Act' among the Acts in force. This indicates that at some point Montserrat enacted its own domestic Copyright Act, replacing or supplementing the extended UK 1956 Act. Based on the pattern of other Eastern Caribbean / OECS territories (e.g., Dominica's Copyright Act 2003, Saint Lucia's Copyright Act 1995, Antigua and Barbuda's Copyright Act 2003), Montserrat's Copyright Act likely follows a similar OECS/WIPO model. These model acts typically include fair dealing provisions for research and private study. However, I was unable to retrieve the actual text of Montserrat's Copyright Act via web search — the gov.ms site lists the Act but does not provide a downloadable text, and WIPO Lex does not appear to host the Montserrat Copyright Act text. Without the actual statutory text, I cannot verify the specific exceptions, their scope, or the date the Act entered into force. The status is therefore AMBIGUOUS because the statutory text itself could not be verified, not because of inherent textual indeterminacy. I am marking this as AMBIGUOUS strictly because I cannot confirm the content of the provisions.