Legal deposit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The requirement was originally limited to books and journals, but with the advance of technology many countries amended the law to include voice recordings, movies, maps and even internet sites.
In some countries submitting the copies is a pre-requirement for receiving copyright protection. The number of copies varies and can range from one to 16 (in Bulgaria). Typically, the national library is one of the repositories of these copies.
In some countries there is also a legal deposit requirement placed on the government, and it is required to send copies of documents to publicly accessible libraries.
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[edit] Legal deposit by country
[edit] Australia
In Australia, section 201 of Copyright Act 1968[1] and other state Acts requires that a copy of every book published in Australia be deposited with the National Library of Australia, the State Library for each state and certain other libraries such as Parliamentary libraries and University libraries.
[edit] Ireland
In the Republic of Ireland, the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 specifies that one copy of every book published is to be delivered to the National Library of Ireland, the Library of Trinity College, Dublin , the library of the University of Limerick, the library of Dublin City University, and the British Library. Four copies are to be delivered to the National University of Ireland for distribution to its constituent universities. Further, on demand in writing within twelve months of publication a copy is to be delivered to the Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Scotland and the National Library of Wales.
[edit] Israel
In Israel the law requires two copies of each publication to be sent to the Jewish National and University Library. At their request, the library of the Knesset and the national archive are entitled to receive one copy each.
The government authorities are required by the "Freedom of information act, 1999" to send an annual report of their actions to the public library of every town with 5,000 people or more.
[edit] Monaco
In Monaco four copies of locally produced books, computer software and media must be deposited in the Bibliothèque Louis Notari. If fewer than 100 copies were produced only two copies are required.[2]
[edit] Singapore
In Singapore, the National Library Board Act requires all publishers in Singapore to deposit two copies of every publication to the National Library Board at their own expense within four weeks from the publication date.
[edit] Sweden
Since 1661, the Swedish Royal Library has been entitled to a copy of all works published in Sweden.
[edit] United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 restates the Copyright Act 1911, that one copy of every book published there must be sent to the national library (the British Library); five other libraries (Bodleian Library at Oxford University, Cambridge University Library, National Library of Scotland, the Library of Trinity College, Dublin and the National Library of Wales) are entitled to request a free copy within one year of publication.
[edit] United States
In the United states, any copyrighted work that is published [1] must be submitted in two copies to the United States Copyright Office at the Library of Congress.[2] This mandatory deposit is not required to possess copyright of unpublished works, but a copyright registration can give an author enhanced remedies in case of a copyright violation.[3] The Library of Congress does not retain all works.
A legal requirement does rest on the US government. Over 1,250 Federal depository libraries must receive a copy of all of the publications of the Government Printing Office.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] Further reading
- Jules Larivière, Guidelines for legal deposit legislation (A revised, enlarged and updated edition), Paris, UNESCO, 2000.
