– Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
– Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997.
– Duration of Copyright and Rights in Performances Regulations 1995.
– Copyright (Industrial Process and Excluded Articles) No. 2, Order 1989.
– Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002.
– Copyright, etc. and Trade Marks (Offences and Enforcement) Act 2002.
– The Performances (Moral Rights, etc.) Regulations 2006.
– The Artist’s Resale Right Regulations 2006.
– The Copyright (Certification of Licensing Scheme for Educational Recording of Broadcasts) (Educational Recording Agency Limited) (Revocation and Amendment) Order 2008.
– The Digital Economy Act 2010.
– Copyright and Duration of Rights in Performances Regulations 2013.
The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.
– Intellectual Property Act 2014.
– Digital Economy Act 2017.

Note: the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 has been amended on a number of occasions since it came into force on August 1, 1989. The copyright only sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended) can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/copyright-acts-and-related-laws

– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act.
– Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
– Universal Copyright Convention.
– Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations.
– WIPO Copyright Treaty.
– WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (Cm 3728).
– Marrakesh Treaty, since January 1, 2021.

Territory covered: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.

Copyright is governed by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and extends protection to original musical, dramatic, literary and artistic works, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programs; layouts and typographical arrangements of published editions. Copyright in musical, dramatic, literary and artistic works generally subsists for a period of seventy years from the end of the year of the death of the author/creator. The term of copyright may vary for other categories of work and with particular circumstances of creation. Copyright is an automatically generated right and there is no provision for the registration or recording of the right. Copyright is extended to the author/creator of a work in the first instance and through them to anyone who may legally claim ownership of the rights. The onus is on the owner to show that copyright exists in the work and that they are the legal and beneficial owner of the rights in that work.

The owner of the copyright in a work has the exclusive right to do the following acts in the United Kingdom (a) to copy the work; (b) to issue copies of the work to the public; (c) to rent or lend the work to the public; (d) to perform, show or play the work in public; (e) to communicate the work to the public; (f) to make an adaptation of the work or do any of the above in relation to an adaptation. Copyright in a work is infringed by a person who without the license of the copyright owner does, or authorizes another to do, any of the acts restricted by the copyright. References to the doing of an act restricted by the copyright in a work are to the doing of it (a) in relation to the work as a whole or any substantial part of it, and (b) either directly or indirectly.

Criminal liabilities can be incurred for infringement on a commercial scale, including the making or possessing a device specifically designed to circumvent copyright protection.

Resale Right was introduced in 2006. This right entitles authors of original works of art (including paintings, engravings, sculpture and ceramics) to a royalty each time one of their works is resold through an auction house or art market professional. The amount of the royalty is based on the sale price. Only creators within the U.K. and other qualifying countries may benefit.

Moral Rights are provided whereby the author of a copyright work can assert the right to be identified as the author, and can object to derogatory treatment of his work or false attribution of the work of another author. These rights can be waived, and certain exceptions apply. From 2006 performers can also assert moral rights in respect of their performances.

Copyright in the U.K. under the previous statutes extended by practice to industrial and commercially produced three-dimensional objects. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 curtailed copyright in relation to industrial designs and introduced a separate unregistered Design Right (see below).

A separate Database Right has also been introduced (see Section Databases).

This applies to designs made after August 1, 1989.

What is protected: this form of protection is automatic and relates to shape or configuration (whether internal or external) of the whole or part of a new article.

Design Right does not protect: (a) a method or principle of construction; (b) features of shape or configuration of an article which: (i) enable the article to be connected to or placed in, around or against another article so that either article may perform its function (the “must-fit” Rule), (ii) are dependent upon the appearance of another article of which the article is intended by the designer to form an integral part (the “must-match” Rule); (c) surface decoration. Design Right does not come into existence until the design is recorded in a design document, or an article is made. “Recorded in a design document” means making a drawing, written description, photograph, storing data on a computer or otherwise.

Duration: fifteen years from the end of the calendar year in which the design is first recorded in a design document, or an article is first made, whichever occurred first. If the articles are made available for sale or hire anywhere in the world, the term is a maximum ten years from first sale or hire, but cannot extend beyond the fifteen-year period. During the last five-year period anyone is entitled to a license to make the article.

Novelty: the design must be “original” and not “commonplace”.

Priority: does not apply.

Ownership of a Design Right: the designer is the first owner of any Design Right unless it is created in the course of employment. If the work is computer generated, the designer is the person who makes the arrangements necessary for the creation of the design.

Who is entitled to a Design Right: a design must qualify for Design Right protection, i.e. the designer or owner must be a qualifying individual, body corporate or other body having legal personality, e.g. a British subject or resident, a British company or an individual or company of another qualifying country.

Infringement of Design Right: a Design Right is infringed by unauthorized making of articles to the design or by making a design document recording the design for the purpose of enabling such articles to be made. It is also an infringement of Design Right to import into the U.K. for commercial purposes, to possess for commercial purposes, or to sell, let for hire or offer for sale or hire articles which are protected by Design Right, if these things are done without the license of the Design Right owner. It is not an infringement of Copyright to do something, which infringes a Design Right; also, it is not an infringement of a Design Right to do anything, which infringes Copyright.

Miscellaneous: Design Right is an automatic protection, so it is necessary for the owner to establish proof of when the Design Right comes into existence, thereby establishing the fifteen-year term, and also when the article is first made available to the public, thereby establishing the actual term of the Design Right, i.e. a maximum of ten years from the latter.