Copyright at UWS: Welcome

Copyright affects us all, as both information creators and consumers, as this video shows.

World Intellectual Property Organization (2010) Copyright.  Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEB5MYcj-Ns (Accessed: 14 July 2023).

"Copyright" is a term used to define the legal property right subsisting in various works which result from the intellect of the creator. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 was introduced to give legal protection to the creators of such works in order to prevent exploitation by others and to ensure creators’ moral rights. Copyright may be sold or given away by the author (hence the copyright owner of a book can often be the publisher).

Moral rights are separate from the rights governing economic exploitation, but are equally important. These belong to the creator of the work and provide them with the right to be identified as such (i.e. the right to be acknowledged through referencing) and with the right of integrity (i.e. not to be misrepresented, for example, through misquotation or adaptation).

No formal procedures are required in the UK for copyright protection to apply. This is automatic, provided that:

• the work is recorded in writing or some other material form. There is no copyright in ideas;
• there is some originality in the work;
• the work has been produced by a person or body, generally a British subject or corporation, or the work was first published in the UK. However, most foreign material is protected by international treaties.

Contains brief definitions of commonly used terms used in Copyright.

Advice from UK Government on copyright is also available. 

• How copyright protects your work.
• Intellectual property and your work.

If the information held here does not answer the copyright-related questions that you have or if you would like more information about copyright, please contact the Library Copyright Service at Copyright@uws.ac.uk