Qualification for copyright protection

(1) A literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or, subject to subsection (2) of this section, a typographical arrangement of a published edition, qualifies for copyright protection if, (a) the author thereof was a qualified person at the time at which the work was made or, if the making of the work extended over a period, was a qualified person for a substantial part of that period; or (b) in the case of a published work, (i) if, having regard to section 5 of this Act, the first publication took place in Belize or in a specified country; (ii) if the author was a qualified person at the time at which the work was first published; or (iii) if the author had died before publication but was a qualified person immediately before his death; or (c) in the case of an artistic work which is a building or is incorporated in a building, if the building is erected in Belize or in a specified country. 29 (2) Copyright shall not subsist in the typographical arrangement of a published edition if, or to the extent that, it reproduces the typographical arrangement of a previous (3) A sound recording or film qualifies for copyright protection if, (a) the maker thereof was a qualified person for the whole or a substantial part of the period during which the sound recording or film was made; or (b) having regard to section 5 of this Act, if the sound recording or film has been published and the first publication took place in Belize or in a specified country. (4) Copyright does not subsist in a sound recording or film which is, or to the extent that it is, a copy taken from a previous sound recording or film. (5) (a) A broadcast qualifies for copyright protection if it is made in Belize by a transmitting station in respect of which there is a valid licence granted under the Broadcasting and Television Act, Cap. 227 or in a specified country in accordance with any law in force regulating the making of (b) Copyright does not subsist in a broadcast which infringes, or to the extent that it infringes, the copyright in another broadcast or in a cable programme. (6) A cable programme qualifies for copyright protection if it is sent from a place in Belize or in a specified country in accordance with any law in force regulating transmission by cable, so, however, that copyright shall not subsist in any cable 30 (a) if it is included in a cable programme service by broadcast; or (b) if it infringes, or to the extent that it infringes, the copyright in another cable programme or in a broadcast. (7) In relation to a work of joint ownership, the references in subsection (1) of this section, to author shall be construed as references to any one of the authors. (8) If the qualification requirements of this section are once satisfied in respect of a work, copyright does not cease to exist by reason of any subsequent event. (9) Copyright protection does not extend to an idea, concept, process, principle, procedure, system or discovery or things of a similar nature. copyright - economic rights.