États-Unis d'Amérique

Pays-Bas

Droit d'auteur et droits connexes

6. Please explain how Sections 12(6) and 76 of the Copyright Act comply with Berne Article 9(2) and TRIPS Article 13, which require limitations and exceptions to exclusive rights to be limited to certain special cases which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the rightholder.

Sections 12(6) and 76 of the Copyright Act allow the Crown to use copyright works associated with medicines imported under the Medicines Act without infringing copyright. This enables the Crown to import legitimately produced copies of off-patent medicines where a medicine is not being supplied to the New Zealand market or is only available on unreasonable terms. The Crown can, therefore, ensure that the New Zealand public is not deprived of the benefits of the medicine. (This power has not been used by the Crown.) Accordingly, these provisions are not encompassed by Berne Article 9(2), which does not cover distribution rights. Neither is it covered by TRIPS Article 13 by virtue of TRIPS Article 6 (exhaustion of intellectual property rights).