Selected year snapshot
For 1993, the active event in this file is Copyright Act 1956 (UK).
100%
Current rationale
Pitcairn Islands is a British Overseas Territory. As of 1990-01-01, the applicable copyright law was the UK Copyright Act 1956, which had been extended to Pitcairn by Order in Council (the Copyright (Pitcairn) Order 1962, SI 1962/1637). Section 6(1) of the 1956 Act provided: 'No fair dealing with a literary, dramatic or musical work for purposes of research or private study shall constitute an infringement of the copyright in the work.' Section 6(2) provided fair dealing for criticism/review, and Section 6(3) for reporting current events. The term 'fair dealing' covers any act restricted by copyright (not only reproduction), and it is open to any user and any type of literary, dramatic, or musical work. This qualifies as GREEN: full works may be dealt with (including reproduction and potentially other acts) for research by any user. The 1956 Act also contained library copying provisions (Section 7) which are less permissive (PURPLE). The most permissive exception — fair dealing for research — determines the classification. I was unable to retrieve the full verbatim text of the 1956 Act or the 1962 Order in Council via web search to provide an exact excerpt, but the structure and content of Section 6 of the Copyright Act 1956 is well-established. The UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) came into force in the UK on 1 August 1989, but it was NOT automatically extended to Pitcairn. The 1956 Act remained in force in Pitcairn until the CDPA 1988 was specifically extended there.
Exceptions considered
Fair dealing with a literary, dramatic or musical work for purposes of research or private study — open to any user, covers dealing (any restricted act), applies to literary/dramatic/musical works but not artistic works
Fair dealing for criticism or review
Library and archive copying provisions for research and private study — restricted to prescribed libraries
Law changes
Copyright Act 1956 (UK)
Baseline · Effective 1990-01-01
100%
Relevant section: Section 6 (fair dealing), Section 7 (libraries)
Dates: Effective 1990-01-01
Why this score
Pitcairn Islands is a British Overseas Territory. As of 1990-01-01, the applicable copyright law was the UK Copyright Act 1956, which had been extended to Pitcairn by Order in Council (the Copyright (Pitcairn) Order 1962, SI 1962/1637). Section 6(1) of the 1956 Act provided: 'No fair dealing with a literary, dramatic or musical work for purposes of research or private study shall constitute an infringement of the copyright in the work.' Section 6(2) provided fair dealing for criticism/review, and Section 6(3) for reporting current events. The term 'fair dealing' covers any act restricted by copyright (not only reproduction), and it is open to any user and any type of literary, dramatic, or musical work. This qualifies as GREEN: full works may be dealt with (including reproduction and potentially other acts) for research by any user. The 1956 Act also contained library copying provisions (Section 7) which are less permissive (PURPLE). The most permissive exception — fair dealing for research — determines the classification. I was unable to retrieve the full verbatim text of the 1956 Act or the 1962 Order in Council via web search to provide an exact excerpt, but the structure and content of Section 6 of the Copyright Act 1956 is well-established. The UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) came into force in the UK on 1 August 1989, but it was NOT automatically extended to Pitcairn. The 1956 Act remained in force in Pitcairn until the CDPA 1988 was specifically extended there.
Exceptions considered
Fair dealing with a literary, dramatic or musical work for purposes of research or private study — open to any user, covers dealing (any restricted act), applies to literary/dramatic/musical works but not artistic works
Fair dealing for criticism or review
Library and archive copying provisions for research and private study — restricted to prescribed libraries
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (UK), as extended to Pitcairn by the Copyright (Pitcairn) Order 2003 (SI 2003/2758)
Relevant update · Effective 2003-11-07
100%
Relevant section: Section 29 (research and private study), Section 30 (criticism, review, news reporting), Sections 37-44 (libraries and archives)
Dates: Effective 2003-11-07 · Enacted 2003-11-06
Why this score
The UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) was extended to Pitcairn by the Copyright (Pitcairn) Order 2003 (SI 2003/2758), which came into force on 7 November 2003. This replaced the Copyright Act 1956 as the applicable copyright law in Pitcairn. Section 29 of the CDPA 1988 (as in force at the time of extension) provided: 'Fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for the purposes of research or private study does not infringe any copyright in the work or, in the case of a published edition, in the typographical arrangement.' This is GREEN because: (1) Uses — 'fair dealing' covers any restricted act, not only reproduction; (2) Works — covers literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works (all major categories); (3) Users — open to any user, not restricted to institutions or individuals. The library/archive exceptions (Sections 37-44) also exist but are less permissive (PURPLE). The most permissive exception (Section 29 fair dealing) determines the GREEN classification. Note: The version of Section 29 extended to Pitcairn was the version in force in the UK at the time of the 2003 Order, which was the pre-2003 UK amendment version (the UK amended Section 29 via the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 SI 2003/2498 effective 31 October 2003 in the UK to add a non-commercial research requirement, but the Pitcairn Order was made on 6 November 2003 and the version extended may have incorporated the UK amendment). The non-commercial restriction does not affect the GREEN classification per the classification-neutral factors rule.
Exceptions considered
Fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for the purposes of research or private study — open to any user, covers fair dealing (any restricted act), all major work types
Fair dealing for criticism, review, and news reporting
Library and archive copying provisions — restricted to prescribed libraries and archives
Things done for purposes of instruction or examination
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (UK), as extended to Pitcairn by the Copyright (Pitcairn) Order 2003 (SI 2003/2758)
Current law confirmation · Effective 2025-01-01
100%
Relevant section: Section 29 (research and private study), Section 30 (criticism, review, news reporting), Sections 37-44 (libraries and archives)
Dates: Effective 2025-01-01
Why this score
As of 2025, the copyright law in force in Pitcairn remains the CDPA 1988 as extended by the Copyright (Pitcairn) Order 2003. No subsequent Order in Council has been identified that would extend later UK copyright amendments (such as the UK's 2014 amendments expanding library exceptions, or the 2014 TDM exception in Section 29A) to Pitcairn. The version of the CDPA 1988 in force in Pitcairn is therefore frozen at the version extended in 2003. Section 29 provides fair dealing for research and private study, which is GREEN: (1) Uses — 'fair dealing' covers any restricted act; (2) Works — literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works; (3) Users — any user. The non-commercial restriction (if included in the extended version) does not affect the GREEN classification per classification-neutral factors. Library exceptions (Sections 37-44) also exist but are less permissive. No TDM-specific exception exists in the Pitcairn version of the law (the UK's Section 29A, introduced in 2014, has not been extended to Pitcairn).
Exceptions considered
Fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for the purposes of research or private study — open to any user, covers fair dealing (any restricted act), all major work types
Fair dealing for criticism, review, and news reporting
Library and archive copying provisions — restricted to prescribed libraries and archives
Things done for purposes of instruction or examination