What is Copyright? Elaine Munn

What is copyright? Copyright law originated in the United Kingdom from a concept of common law; the Statute of Anne 1709. It became statutory with the passing of the Copyright Act 1911. The current act is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

What is protected by copyright? Copyright protects original literary dramatic musical artistic works published editions of works sound recordings, films (including videograms) and broadcasts.

Are names protected by copyright? No. There is no copyright in a name, title, slogan or phrase. But these may be eligible for registration as a trade mark. Are ideas protected by copyright? No. Although the work itself may be protected, the idea behind it is not.

Is material on the Internet protected by copyright? Yes. Under UK law (the position in other countries may differ) copyright material sent over the Internet or stored on web servers will generally be protected in the same way as material in other media. So anyone wishing to put copyright material on the Internet, or further distribute or download such material that others have placed on the Internet, should ensure that they have the permission of the owners of rights in the material.

Recognising copyright and when it no longer applies Copyright is indicated by © followed by the author’s name Sound recordings lose copyright approximately after 50 years All other materials lose copyright approximately after 70 years

Gain Permission Before you can legally sell, publish or distribute someone else’s copyright work, you must obtain the permission of the copyright owner. This rule applies even if you are only using extracts or samples from the work.

For more information about copyright http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/