The Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) is committed to providing free, universal access to the rich cultural tradition of Irish music, song and dance. If you’re able, we’d love for you to consider a donation. Any level of support will help us preserve and grow this tradition for future generations.
Copyright is a protection given to tangible expressions of creative works to ensure that the rights of the creator are protected.
Copyright legislation differs from country to country but in Ireland it is governed by the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (CRRA) and the related Regulations and Statutory Instruments. Ireland is also a signatory to international treaties such as World Intellectual Property Organisation (WiPO) Treaty and the Berne Convention, as well as relevant European legislation.
The Act states that copyright applies to
Copyright does not apply to ideas or copies and should not be confused with patents (for inventions) and trademarks (symbols or words representing a company). Copyright only exists on tangible physical items. You can’t claim copyright on a performance but if that performance was recorded copyright would exist on the recording for both the performer and the person who recorded them. Within the Act this is known as a ‘fixation’.
As a general rule copyright lasts 70 years from publication and 70 years from the death of the creator. However one item may have many layers of copyright and each layer must be taken into consideration. Take a singer who wrote a song and recorded it on a 78 rpm record in 1947. The copyright on the sound recording itself would expire 70 years later and the copyright on the song would last until 70 years after the singer died. Where there was more than one creator, for example on a film, the copyright lasts 70 years from the date of death of the last surviving creator.
Once the copyright has expired on a creation it is considered in the public domain and can be freely re-used for any purpose. For example, a 78 rpm recording of a Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738) composition published more than 70 years ago would now be in the public domain.
ITMA does not own the copyright on all the material that is on its website. The copyright status of any item is listed with the item’s metadata, and where the item is in the public domain this is clearly marked.
For any items that are in copyright ITMA contacted the copyright holder to get permission to make it available on the site. The items are all made available at low resolution, which means that while they may look and sound fine on a screen the quality of the digital file would not be good enough for any other type of reproduction. This is to safeguard the rights of the copyright holder.
If you would like to reproduce any of the material that is on the ITMA website please get in contact. We will put you in touch with the copyright holder so that you can get permission. Once permission has been acquired, or if the item is in the public domain, ITMA can supply you with high quality digital files (a small handling fee may apply).
Please read the ITMA Notice and Take Down Procedure below if you believe that the ITMA website has, in any way, breached copyright.
In making material available online on the ITMA website, ITMA acts in good faith. However, despite these safeguards, we recognise that material published online may occasionally be in breach of copyright laws or contain sensitive content.
If you are concerned that you have found material on the ITMA website, for which you have not given permission, contravenes privacy laws, is obscene / defamatory and in terms of copyright law is not covered by a limitation or exception, please contact ITMA as soon as possible stating the following:
Upon receipt of notification the ‘Notice and Takedown’ procedure is then invoked as follows:
1. ITMA will acknowledge receipt of your complaint by email or letter and will make an initial assessment of the validity and plausibility of the complaint.
2. Upon receipt of a valid complaint the material will be temporarily removed from the ITMA website pending an agreed solution.
3. ITMA will contact the contributor who deposited the material, if relevant. The contributor will be notified that the material is subject to a complaint, under what grounds, and will be encouraged to assuage the complaints concerned.
4. All parties will be encouraged to resolve the issue swiftly and amicably and to the satisfaction of all, with the following possible outcomes:
a) The material kept online and the website unchanged.
b) The material is kept with changes or replaced on website.
c) The material is permanently removed from the website.
5. If the parties involved are unable to agree a solution, the material will remain unavailable through the ITMA site until a time when a resolution has been reached.
