Contents
1. Summary
Copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. This section explains what is covered by copyright and how to protect your work.
2. Copyright
Copyright protects literary and artistic materials, music, films, photographs, translations, sound recordings and broadcasts, software and multimedia.
It protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. It protects work which is creative and original and for which some degree of skill and labour was required.
Copyright protects against copying, so if someone else comes up with the same thing independently, they are not infringing copyright.
Copyright law concentrates on commercial exploitation. It allows the author or creator of an original work the right to copy, distribute and adapt their work, and the right to allow others to do so either by licensing their copyright or transferring it outright (assignment).
More information about copyright is at www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy.htm
An automatic right
Copyright is an automatic right which means you do not have to apply for it. In general, copyright belongs to the author or creator of a copyright work, unless it was created during the course of employment, in which case it belongs to the employer.
For example, this means that software written by a programmer who is an employee of a company belongs to the company. However, software written under commission, by a freelance software programmer for example, belongs to the programmer unless there is a written agreement to the contrary.
This is something that is often overlooked and can cause problems.
Duration of copyright protection
The duration of copyright varies for different works. The term of protection for work originated in the UK or European Union is:
- literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works e.g. books, plays, songs, paintings, as well as software and databases which are considered a literary work – Life of the author plus 70 years
- anonymous work – 70 years from publication
- typographical arrangements – 25 years from first publication
- sound recordings – 50 years from creation or release
- film – 70 years from the death of the last to die of the principal director, author of the screenplay, author of the dialogue or composer of the score
- broadcast – 50 years from first broadcast
Remember, this may be different for countries outside the European Union.
Use this copyright template (MS Word 12kb) to review the copyright owned by your business.