What does it cover?

Generally, the expressions of facts or ideas are protected by copyright as soon as they are fixed in some way. As protection is automatic at the point of creation, even unpublished materials are protected. Copyright materials include:

• Text – novels, monographs, poetry, emails, blog entries, etc
• Artistic works such as photographs, paintings, diagrams, maps, charts etc
• Sound recordings (not just musical recordings)
• Video, films and broadcasts
• Software
• Parliamentary and Crown publications
• Databases (these may attract both database rights and copyright)

How long does it last?

All published copyright works, apart from sound recordings and broadcasts, are protected for the author’s lifetime plus 70 years. Sound recordings and broadcasts are protected for 50 years.

Once the term of protection is over, the work is in the public domain, and may be freely used. However, if a new edition of a public domain work is published (for example, the novels of Jane Austen) the typographical arrangement of the new edition is protected for 25 years.

So, if you want to use other people’s material, it is best to assume that someone, somewhere owns the copyright and you must check to see if:

• The University’s licences allow you to reproduce the material
• The material can be used under an open source licence such as Creative Commons
• The work is out of copyright and in the public domain
• The use is covered by any of the exceptions outlined in the legislation

If none of the points above apply to the materials you want to use, written permission from the copyright owners must be obtained. It’s not always easy to track down the rights owners so please allow time to do this. Also, remember that copyright is an economic right, so the rights owners may demand the payment of a fee, or they may refuse permission.

Many copyright works attract more than one copyright or other intellectual property rights. A classic example of this is a music CD which could have separate copyrights for individual songs (the lyrics and music may also have different copyright owners), copyright in the sound recordings, artwork and logos. A logo may also be registered as a trademark.