Copyright Constraints

Describe the principles of Copyright Law

Copyright law explained

source: University of York

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 gives the author or creator the exclusive right to copy, adapt, communicate, lend or sell copies of the work, although this right can be sold or transferred.

Limited re-use of copyright material by a third party is permitted in exceptional circumstances, including some educational scenarios.

The CDPA 1988 protects an author or creator’s economic interests, by providing a legal framework for deciding when and to what extent copyright has been infringed.

2014 amendments to the CDPA took account of developments in digital technology to extend the limits to scenarios in which material can be copied fairly, and go some way towards harmonising copyright legislation across the EU.

Core principles

Copyright is an automatic right which applies to a wide range of creative works in material form, giving creators of original works the right to control the use of their material by third parties, for a fixed period of time. (Protection of the original idea relies on Intellectual Property rights).

All these works are protected by copyright

  • Literary works – written, spoken or sung. Not only books, journals and newspaper articles, but also letters, poetry, computer programs, and more.
  • Published editions – the typographical arrangement of a literary work.
  • Databases – data or materials individually accessible and arranged in a systematic or methodical way, such as a library catalogue or a stock market report.
  • Artistic works – any original artistic material (irrespective of quality) available in a fixed format, such as photos, paintings, sculpture, buildings, maps and more.
  • Musical works – any original composition recorded in a permanent format. The lyrics are a literary work.
  • Dramatic works – the original non-spoken parts of a performance that are recorded in a physical format, such as choreography and stage directions. The script is a literary work.
  • Sound recordings – in any format. Those that are simply a direct copy of another recording are excluded.
  • Films – original footage in any medium, including celluloid, DVD and other digital formats.
  • Broadcasts – visual images, sounds or other information, transmitted for simultaneous viewing/listening by members of the public.

Copyright is a property right, so can be transferred or sold. The person who owns the copyright has the exclusive right to

  • Copy or reproduce – including electronic storage such as file downloads
  • Issue, rent or lend copies
  • Perform, show or play in public (this applies to literary, dramatic or musical works, sound recordings, films and broadcasts).
  • Communicate or transmit a copy – including putting material on the web, emailing or broadcasting it
  • Adapt material – including translation, or any kind of editing.

If you do any of the above acts without permission from the copyright owner, you may be infringing copyright. Dealing with infringing copies made by another party – by storing, distributing or selling them – is also a violation of copyright.

When the rights-holder is indeterminate or untraceable, copyright material becomes an orphan work. A 2014 amendment to the CDPA provides a framework for Licensing Orphan Works for copying or re-use.

Duration of copyright

Copyright protection starts as soon as a work is created, for a fixed term. Copyright in literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work usually extends until 70 years after the creator’s death. The UK Intellectual Property Office provides more information about copyright duration for work in other formats.

Unpublished works

Prior to the implementation of CDPA 1988, unpublished works remained protected by copyright in perpetuity. This protection was removed, with a 50-year transitional period, hence a work unpublished in 1988, whose creator was already dead, will remain in copyright until 2039.

Associated rights

In addition to copyright, creators of original works are also granted moral rights, to protect their reputation.

  • Attribution: the right to be identified as author, once asserted
  • Integrity: the right to object to derogatory treatment of work
  • The right not to have work falsely attributed
  • The right to privacy of personal/domestic films and photographs

The author can waive both the right to be identified and the right to object to derogatory treatment. However, unlike copyright, moral rights cannot be transferred to another person.

People who enact a work have a performer’s right to be consulted about the recording of their performance or the use of any recording. Performers can choose whether to give their consent to making and distributing further copies.

Describe how to protect Intellectual Property Rights and copyright

Copyright notices, and how to use them to best effect in protecting your work.

Source: The UK Copyright Service

Ensuring that your work is properly marked

A correctly worded notice will deter infringement, as it states that the work is protected under law. Although a copyright notice is not required, (work is automatically subject to copyright protection under law), displaying a notice shows that you have an awareness of copyright and take infringements of your work seriously.

  1. What is a copyright notice?A piece of text which accompanies a work and expresses the rights and wishes of the owner(s).
  2. Do I need a notice?There is no legal requirement to include a copyright notice. Whether a notice is used or not will not change the fact that copyright exists in the work. It is however strongly recommended that you include one on your work if all all possible to deter copyright infringement.The aim of a copyright notice is to:
    1. Make it clear that the work is subject to copyright.
    2. Provide a means of identifying the copyright owner.
    3. Deter infringement or plagiarism.
       
  3. Where should the notice be placed?The rule to adopt is to ensure that anyone with access to your work is aware of the copyright. If your work can be broken up into several pieces, then the notice should appear on each part. If it would normally be viewed as a whole then one will suffice.Include acknowledgements for any images, excerpts etc. that you have used which are not your own, and ensure that you obtain permission before you use anyone else’s work.
    • If you are writing a book, you should only need one inside the front cover.
    • Leaflets, commercial documents, etc. should have one on each item.
    • Web pages should have one on every page.
    • In the music industry, one is placed on the CD, cassette or LP itself, and one is included on any accompanying sleeve or booklet.
    • Photographs and designs will have one at the bottom or on the reverse of the work.
      For photos and other images published online, you may wish to add the notice as a visible ‘watermark’ across the image.
    • Manuscripts: A single notice on the front will normally suffice.
       
  4. What does a notice consist of?
    1. Copyright  The word Copyright. Using the word ensures that there can be no confusion.
    2. ©The copyright symbol. Most countries across the world accept this as the correct manner of displaying copyright.
      See our article: “Copyright symbols” for information on how to access these symbols on various applications/platforms.
    3. Year of publicationIn case of a dispute of ownership of a work, the date plays an important part. If your work was developed and published before any potential opponents then you can usually expect to win any case which challenges your rights.In the case of work which is continually updated, (for example a web site), the year of publication may be shown as a period from first publication until the most recent update, (i.e. 2000-2020)
    4. Copyright owner’s nameThis may only be one person, or it may be a collective, a band, group or team for example.If there is one person who owns the rights to a work, then his/her name will appear on its own. If however, your work is owned by several people then you may choose to include the name of each member of the collective, or include the name of the collective itself.
    This would give your copyright notice the following appearance: Copyright © 2020 Bobby Smith.
  5. Using a pseudonymAlthough it may not be technically correct (it does not state the name of the legal entity that is the copyright owner), it is very common for an identifiable pseudonym or trading name to be used in the copyright notice to afford the copyright owner some degree of anonymity through obfuscation.
  6. Phonogram rights in sound recordings ℗Sound recordings have a right separate from the underlying musical composition, and a sound recordings should carry a phonogram copyright notice (denoted by the P in a circle) for the recording itself. The standard © notice should also be used, but in the case of sound recordings this is used to protect the cover design, lyric sheets or other printed material included with the sound recording.In our example, this would give the appearance of the notice as Copyright © 2020 Bobby Smith, ℗ 2020 Bobby Smith.Tip: On most computers the ℗ symbol can be found within the Webdings font.
Extending your copyright notice

You may also wish to increase your notice in order to clarify any further wishes you have as the copyright owner, this is dealt with in the following sections.

  1. Why extend your notice?In some cases you may wish to permit certain activities, in others you may wish to make it clear that you are withholding all rights, or require the user to apply for a licence to carry out certain actions. To do this you should include a statement that explicitly sets out these terms, the statement should appear as a sentence after the copyright notice.
  2. Wording your statementThere are several items to think about when wording your statement. Decide in relation to your work, what you wish to permit. Be specific in your wording, make it clear what you will allow and what is prohibited.Probably the best starting place is to think from the point of view of withholding all rights and then carefully word any allowances as exceptions, making sure it is clear that these are the only allowances you will make.Here are some areas to consider:Note: Acts done in the course of private research or study, criticism or news reporting do not normally constitute an infringement.
  3. Copying, duplication, reproductionThe right to produce a copy of the workDo you wish certain groups to be able to copy your work? if so what terms would you attach?
    1. Selling, hiringNormally this would be expressly forbidden without the copyright holders consent.
    2. DistributionYou may for example have written a shareware program which you will allow to be duplicated and distributed freely so long as you are identified as the author.
    3. Commercial or personal useWill you allow your work to be used differently by certain groups or individuals?Educational or private study use is generally permitted under law in any case, but you may want to allow copying for private use but not for commercial gain.
    4. LicensesFor software, commercial and educational documents in particular, the copyright notice may carry information about obtaining a licence to reproduce the work.By not obtaining a licence, use of the work may be considered in breach of copyright.
    5. Right to be identified as the authorIf for example, the work is distributed without your control, you will wish to ensure that you are still identified as the author/copyright owner.
  4. Examples of copyright statements
    Remember, copyright notices are straightforward statements, there is no need to get tied up with legal jargon, the point is to state your wishes clearly and succinctly.
    • All rights reservedA simple cover all statement. It simply means that you withhold all rights to the maximum extent allowable under law. This is in fact the default position, (legally it is the same as having no statement), but the statement is commonly used by authors to emphasise that they take their rights seriously.
    • Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording will constitute an infringement of copyright.Another cover all statement, this one is designed for use on sound recordings, but can easily be adapted to apply to other types of work.The wording makes it clear that the authors rights are taken very seriously. For maximum effect you can combine (a) and (b).
    • Permission granted to reproduce for personal and educational use only. Commercial copying, hiring, lending is prohibited.For businesses and organisations this kind of statement can be of mutual benefit as allowing reproduction may help to promote their message.
    • May be used free of charge. Selling without prior written consent prohibited. Obtain permission before redistributing. In all cases this notice must remain intact.This is the type of notice often used for software distributed as “freeware” or “shareware”, by specifying that the copyright notice remains intact you ensure that all copies will identify you as the author.
Additional deterrent against infringement
  1. Notice of registration
    UK Copyright Service clients are also permitted to state that their work is registered.This is an additional deterrent against infringement, by displaying the notice, you demonstrate that you are aware of your rights, that you take your rights seriously, and that you have very strong evidence of copyright ownership with which to pursue a case if your work is infringed.The notice would normally appear next to or below the copyright notice and state. ‘This work is registered with the UK Copyright Service’ You may also include your registration number if you wish.For further information examples and images that you can use on your own work, please see our registration notice page.

This fact sheet explains the process of copyright registration and the benefits of registering your work.

Registering your work

If your work is infringed and your claim to copyright is disputed (i.e. in a plagiarism case – where the other party claims the work is theirs), you may need evidence to help prove your claim. This valuable evidence can be provided by our copyright registration service that provides verifiable proof of the date and content of your work. As specialists in this area, we ensure that you have the very best evidence to support your rights, while our service policies ensure that the evidence is always available when you need it.

For information on registration, please see our fact sheet P-04: Registering copyright work.

  1. Why register?Although copyright is an automatic right of the author, if an unscrupulous third party infringes your work, proving your claim may be a difficult matter.In the past, a popular but misguided solution has been to post a copy of the work to yourself, but as it is an easy task to open and replace the contents or simply seal the envelope later, this method does not provide strong evidence in the event of a dispute.Without more substantial evidence, copyright disputes can boil down to a case of their word against yours, and if the other party has greater financial resources, reputation and lawyers it may be very difficult to get a ruling in your favour.This is why we feel the best solution is to have the work registered, so that in the event of a dispute you have the best, independently verifiable, evidence of the date and content of your work.
  2. About the UK Copyright ServiceOne of the key considerations in setting up the service was to achieve a better level of copyright protection at a price that everyone can afford.The UK Copyright Service is essentially an independent witnessing service and an archive of original works, which offers impartial supporting evidence of ownership. Nothing can ever provide a 100% guarantee, but if you register your copyright and follow our guidelines we feel you will have done as much as possible to protect your work.
  3. What types of work can be registered?Just about anything which is an original work, here are some examples:
    • Music, lyrics and sound recordings
    • Design work
    • Web sites
    • Advertisements, plans, designs and patterns
    • Labels, maps and charts
    • Computer programs
    • Films and scripts
    • Books, manuscripts and synopsis
    • Artwork and photography
    • Commercial documents, logos, letterheads
    • Periodicals, catalogues and other documents
    • Games (rules and descriptions)
    • Descriptions of ideas prior to patent
  4. What happens when your work is registered?
    • You will be allocated a personal account number, and information about the work is stored in our database.
    • Your work will be stored in our secure archives and allocated a registration number that identifies it.
    • Encrypted back ups are stored in multiple, geographically separated locations. This precaution ensures protection against data corruption, fire, and other risks.
    • You will be sent a certificate as confirmation of registration.
      • For postal submissions a paper certificate is posted back.
      • For online submissions a PDF certificate will be sent to you by email.
      • Additional paper certificates may also be ordered on the registration form.
    • The archive is maintained by our dedicated personnel who take every care to ensure that copies of your work are kept safe and secure for the period of registration. You will also be notified before the registration expires and offered the option to extend the registration period if required.
    • Your details, your work and all data about it are treated as confidential.
    • An entry in our archive is evidence of copyright ownership from the date of registration, and will assist you in the event of a dispute.
  5. How to register your work
    • Online  The fastest way to register is via our online registration service. This provides immediate protection for your work.
    • Postal applicationsWe also accept postal applications.

      To register complete the registration application form F-01, and send the following:
      • A copy of the work to be registered.
      • A completed application.
      • The registration fee.
         
      • Accepted media formats for postal applicationsCD
        DVD
        Blu-ray (BD) disc
        USB Flash drive
        Paper – incuding photographs, transparencies and prints.
        Please see the postal registration format information page for conditions and guidance on all media types accepted for registration.Ensure that you only include a copy of the work and not the original or master.
  6. When to register
    It is important to remember that a registration is evidence of your work from the registration date. It is therefore best to register sooner rather than later so you establish the evidence before your work has a chance to be infringed.
  7. Charges and registration limits
    • Online
      • Online registration feesThe current charges for online registration are £42.50 for 5 years or £72.50 for 10 years per work.
      • Online registration limitsSubmissions up to 20GB* in size can be made using the on-line registration system (*individual file limit is 2GB, but multiple files can be included in a single submission up to the 20GB maximum).If you have a large number of files, we do suggest that you use an archiving program such as WinZip, StuffIt or Tar, to preserve your directory structure and simplify your upload.Note: Most web browsers, (i.e. Internet Explorer), will only upload files up to 2GB. To avoid problems we therefore have a 2GB limit per file, so larger items would need to be split into 2 or more files before uploading.
    • Postal applications
      • Registration fees for postal applicationsThe current charges for postal applications are £52.50 for 5 years or £82.50 for 10 years per work.
      • Charges for oversized itemsThe standard charges include submissions of CD, DVD or BD discs, or USB Flash stick containing up to 4GB (4096MB) of data, or paper documents, photos or fabric samples up to 20 pages A4/Letter/Foolscap size.
        • Paper documents over 20 pages:
          A £5 GBP processing fee will apply for each 100 pages (or part thereof) over 20 pages.
          i.e. for 21-120 pages add £5, for 121-220 pages add £10, for 221-320 pages add £15, etc.
        • Documents over A4/Letter size:
          A £5 GBP processing fee is added to cover the additional processing requirements of larger formats.
        • Data over 4GB on CD/DVD/Blu-ray disc/USB drive:
          Where the total electronic data in a submission exceeds 4GB, a £10 GBP processing fee will apply for each 4GB (or part thereof) over 4GB.
          i.e. for 4-8GB add £10, for 8-12GB add £20, etc.The preferred formats for postal submissions are CD or DVD.
  8. For maximum protection, ensure that
    • Your work displays a copyright notice. e.g. “Copyright © 2019 Joe Smith.”
       
    • Once registered, you should include a statement that your work is registered with the UK Copyright Service to deter infringement.
    • In the case of jointly authored works, you should have an agreement, so that if a member of your collective leaves you are all clear what will happen to the copyright of your work.
       
    • Any significant updates to your work are registered using the registration update facility.

      For more information about protecting your work, see our fact sheet P-02: Protecting Copyright.
  9. What if the work is infringed?In the event of a dispute, UKCS can act as an impartial independent witness, providing evidence to authenticate your claim:We can verify when the work was first registered by means of a certificate of registration, (further copies can be made at your request), and at your instruction we can produce copies of the work as proof of the content of your work at the registration date, these can be sent to any address you specify, this may be your solicitor, or the judge/tribunal dealing with your case.
  10. What if the work changes after registration?If a work changes after registration and you wish the new content to also be protected it is possible to submit an updated version of the work as a registration update. This creates another dated evidence deposit that will demonstrate the evolution of your work over time. Updates are charged at a reduced rate – for more information please see the registration updates fact sheet.
  11. Extending the registration periodA registration can be extended using our online renewal/extension facility at any point when it has less than 5 years left to run. Expired registrations can also be renewed up to 28 days after the expiry date.We automatically send renewal reminders via email when the expiry date is near and offer the option to extend the registration for a further 5 or 10 year period if required. If we do not have a valid email address for your we will send a reminder by post.The maximum registration duration at any point is 10 years, but renewal process can be repeated as often as required throughout the life of the work, up to the legal copyright duration (which is normally author’s life plus 70 years).
  12. Important notes, exceptions and allowances
    • Registering a collection of works under one titleWhere a number of items form a larger collective work, you may register all parts on one CD, online upload, etc. For example: A web site and artwork. A music album, lyrics and midi files. A single collection of poems.In such a case, the works will be registered with the UK Copyright Service as one item, with one title; this does not affect the copyright of the work in any way, but please ensure this is suitable for your needs.Please note: As copyright exists under the name of the author or company/commissioner of the work, work by different authors, organisations or collaborations need be registered separately.
    • Allowance for supporting works (postal applications)Clearly work size can vary enormously, and for that reason, extra charges are waived for clients who submit 2 CD’s as a double album, or include a second CD containing information proving work development,e.g. rough drafts, content notes, supplementary files, etc. Both the discs however must pertain to the same work.
    • Electronic documents with unusual fonts or imagesIf you are registering electronic documents, (i.e. Word, Excel, Publisher), ensure that any graphic files are included or embedded in the documents. Also ensure that fonts are embedded, or use standard fonts such as Arial and Times New Roman. Failure to do so may result in the document being indecipherable and affect your claim in the event of dispute.
    • Extracts, quotes etc.If your work includes some parts which are not your own creation, it may still be possible to register provided you either have permission to use the work, and enclose proof of written permission from the copyright owner of the parts in question, (a photocopy will suffice), or remove any parts that are not your own creation from the copy for registration.
    • Outstanding disputesThis service is intended to protect against future infringement. It will not assist if ownership of the work is already in dispute.
  13. Privacy policy
    The UK Copyright Service operates a strict privacy policy regarding client information.
    • All client details, registered works or registration details are considered confidential and except where legally required, (i.e. by court order or Police investigation), will not be disclosed to any third party without prior consent.
    • Client details will never be passed onto other companies, mailing lists, etc.
    • All our personnel dealing directly with client details are required to sign a confidentiality agreement.
    • All electronic back ups of works are encrypted, to ensure they cannot be accessed by unauthorised personnel.
    • All documents and files containing client data that require disposal, (such as redundant or expired files) are disposed of in a secure manner, normally by shredding and/or incineration.

Describe the implications of Copyright Law in other countries

Describe methods for discovering plagiarism, breach of Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright Law

Describe the purpose of Creative Commons Licences on the Internet

Creative Commons

All Creative Commons licenses have many important features in common. Every license helps creators retain copyright while allowing others to copy, distribute, and make some uses of their work — at least non-commercially. Every Creative Commons license also ensures licensors get the credit for their work they deserve. Every Creative Commons license works around the world and lasts as long as applicable copyright lasts (because they are built on copyright). These common features serve as the baseline, on top of which licensors can choose to grant additional permissions when deciding how they want their work to be used.

Link to Creative Commons

Describe the use of Creative Commons licences in relation to use of content on the web

Describe the implications of content ownership on a business