June 2002

This information is for general guidance only; it is not legal advice.

There are a number of special exceptions in the Copyright Act that allow people who own, or have a licence to use, a computer program to do certain things with the program. This is an overview of those provisions.

First read:

• copyright basics webpage

use	Section	comments	More
make a reproduction of a computer program “in the course of running a copy of the program for the purposes for which the program was designed”	47B(1)	This section relates to copies “incidentally and automatically made as part of the technical process of running a copy of the program”.The exception may not be relied upon if running the program is contrary to an express direction or licence given by, or on behalf of, the owner of copyright in the program: Section 47B(2). This could be the case, for example, if a person who has legitimately acquired a copy runs the program on more computers than the number for which the program is licensed, or where a person buys a second-hand copy, use of which was expressly limited to the original purchaser, or where the licence stated that the item was not to be on-sold. If a copy is sold, or used for a purpose other than education, it is deemed to be an infringing copy
make a backup copy for any of the following purposes; to store the original and use the backup; to store the backup in case the original is lost, destroyed or rendered unusable; or to make a further backup where the original or another backup which has already been made is lost, destroyed or rendered unusable;	47C(1)	This exception may not, however, be relied upon if the program is designed in such a way that copies cannot be made without modifying the program. The provision may be relied upon to make further backup copies if the backup or original is lost, destroyed or rendered unusable.
reproduce the program (and any other copyright material on the same computer system) as part of “the normal backup copying of data for security purposes”	47C(2)
run the program to study the ideas behind it and the way in which it functions	47B(3) and (4).	This applies where the copy is made incidentally and automatically as part of the technical process of running the program by, or on behalf of, the owner or licensee of the program. If the information obtained as a result of reliance on either of these two provisions is used or sold or otherwise supplied to someone for a purpose other than a purpose specified in the provision, the section is taken never to have applied to the reproduction or adaptation.
reproduce or adapt the program in order to get information necessary to enable you to make an interoperable product	47D	This provision may only be relied upon if the copy or adaptation is only made to the extent reasonably necessary to get the information, and the information sought is not readily available at the time to the person running the program from another source. The provision also allows the person making the interoperable product to reproduce or adapt the original program in the interoperable product, but only to the extent necessary to enable interoperability either with that program or any other program.
reproduce a computer program to correct errors	47E	This provision is available in the following circumstances: where the error being corrected prevents the program operating as the author intended, or in accordance with any specifications or other documentation supplied with the original copy; where the program is only reproduced or adapted to the extent reasonably necessary to correct the error; and where an error-free version is not available within a reasonable time at an ordinary commercial price.
reproduce a computer program for security testing purposes	Section 47F	This provision is available to test, in good faith, the security of a program, or the security of a computer system or network of which the program is a part; or to investigate or correct in good faith a security flaw, or a computer system or network of which the program is a part; or to investigate, in good faith, or correct vulnerability to unauthorised access to the copy or a computer system or network of which the copy of the program is a part. The provision only applies to the extent that the reproduction or adaptation is reasonably necessary to achieve the relevant purpose, and only where the resulting information is not readily available from another source

Because of a special provision in the Copyright Act (Section 47H), none of these exceptions – apart from section 47B(1) – a provision in a contract that purports to exclude the application of any of these special exceptions – apart from section 47B(1) – is unenforceable.

It is important to note that the provisions only apply to computer programs – they do not generally apply to other digitised material, such as digitised text or images on a CD-ROM. Also, they do not apply to infringing computer programs.

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