This chapter provides a brief summary of the discussions on copyright. It covers the roots of copyright; the various types of work that attract copyright protection; and the duration of copyright protection.
Chapter
This chapter discusses exceptions and limitations to the rights of the copyright owner. Copyright law establishes many such exceptions and limitations, listed in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) as the ‘permitted acts’. These acts can be carried out in relation to the copyright work without the owner’s permission or, in some cases, can be performed subject to terms and conditions specified by the statute rather than by the copyright owner. The chapter discusses the influence of the international framework and EU Directives on exceptions and limitations. It analyses the ‘permitted acts’ and discusses the freedoms afforded through them to users of protected works in the UK, and also briefly considers how far they may be set aside by contractual provision.
Chapter
This chapter explains the law on authorship and copyright ownership. The creator of a work is, in principle, its author. There can be more than one creator for a work and therefore also more than one author. Joint authorship arises when more than one creator is involved in the creation of the work and the contribution of each creator can no longer be separated out in the final result. Copyright is a property right and, as such, needs an owner. The general principle is that the author will be the first owner of the copyright in his or her work.
Chapter
This chapter focuses on rights in performances, which covers all aspects of the making of a recording of a performance and its subsequent exploitation. The discussion includes subsistence of rights; term of protection; the qualification requirement; content and infringement; the nature of the performer’s rights and their transfer; and moral rights.
Chapter
This chapter considers the evolution of modern copyright law against the background of its historical development in the UK and the international and European legal frameworks within which UK copyright law has been increasingly set since the nineteenth century. It examines the rationale and justifications for copyright and identifies the general policy context within which law and policy has developed in the UK and the EU. It also highlights the rapid development of new technologies which has brought copyright reform to the forefront in recent times, the difficulties which this new environment presents for the copyright framework, and how the framework has developed to such challenges.
Chapter
This chapter considers the ‘economic rights’ the copyright owner enjoys while copyright protection endures. These are the rights that the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) calls ‘acts restricted by copyright’, which may be exploited by transferring them to others or licensing others to use them for a price. The chapter discusses the rights flowing from ownership of copyright and the international framework that underpins them, noting the influence upon UK law of a number of EU Directives. It identifies the general principles pertaining to infringement of economic rights, before turning to the detailed rules on each economic right: to make copies, issue copies to the public; rent or lend commercially to the public; perform, show, or play in public; communication to the public; and make adaptations. It discusses authorisation of infringement (accessory liability) in relation to these economic rights, and finally considers secondary infringement of copyright.
Chapter
This introductory chapter provides an overview of copyright protection. It discusses how United Kingdom copyright law has developed from the mid-16th century onward. The purpose of giving this account is to highlight two recurring themes: firstly, the law's struggle to keep up with changing technology; and, secondly, the effect of external influences on domestic law. The chapter then looks at the theoretical justifications for copyright and the extent to which they accord with the current law, and the principal characteristics of copyright, including the crucial difference between protecting an idea and protecting the expression of that idea. There are a number of aspects of copyright that do not apply to other intellectual property rights like patents and trade marks. Understanding these differences will help one in distinguishing between the different types of intellectual property right.
Chapter
This chapter discusses the qualification requirement for copyright protection in the UK. The UK copyright system is based on the principle of national treatment contained in the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 1886, in the Universal Copyright Convention, and in the TRIPS Agreement. This requires that authors connected with another member state are to be treated in the same way as a member state’s own authors and should receive the same copyright protection. That connection with a member state might be provided in two ways: the author may have a personal relationship with the member state, or the work may be first published in that member state.
Chapter
This chapter discusses the duration of copyright protection in the UK. The basic rule is that the term of copyright has been harmonized at life of the author plus 70 years in the EU. The basic rule applies to the original category of works (literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works) and to films. Entrepreneurial works, such as sound recordings and broadcasts, receive 50 years of copyright protection. Performances fixated in a phonogram will in future be protected for 70 years. The term of protection for typographical arrangements is 25 years.
Chapter
This chapter considers the evolution of modern copyright law against the background of its historical development in the UK and the international and European legal frameworks within which UK copyright law has been set since the nineteenth century. It examines the rationale and justifications for copyright and identifies the general policy context within which law and policy has developed in the UK and the EU. It also highlights the rapid development of new technologies which has brought copyright reform to the forefront in recent times, the difficulties which this new environment presents for the copyright framework, and how the framework has developed to meet such challenges.
Chapter
This chapter first examines the subject matter in which copyright subsists and the criteria for copyright protection as set out in the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988). This centres on the concept of the ‘protected work’ and makes use of a distinction between what are sometimes known as ‘author works’ (literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and film works) and ‘media works’ (typographical arrangements, sound recordings, broadcasts, and adaptations). It then considers the identification of the first owner of copyright when it comes into existence. It discusses the concept of joint authorship and ownership of copyright works when created in the course of employment. The final section discusses the duration of copyright.
Chapter
This chapter considers two main topics. It first examines the provisions of the EU’s Copyright in the Information Society Directive, which sets out to amend some provisions of copyright law better to fit the realities of an online world. It then looks at some of the issues associated with enforcement of copyright, considering the extent to which intermediaries such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) might be held liable for infringing acts committed by their users. Attention is increasingly paid to the possibility that rights owners might proceed against users whose actions infringe their rights. In many cases this will require the cooperation of ISPs and a major component of the Digital Economy Act 2010 is concerned with the manner in which this process might be managed.
Chapter
This chapter considers the ‘economic rights’ the copyright owner enjoys while copyright protection endures. These are the rights that the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) calls ‘acts restricted by copyright’, which may be exploited by transferring them to others or licensing others to use them for a price. The chapter discusses the rights flowing from ownership of copyright and the international framework that underpins them, noting the influence upon UK law of a number of EU directives. It identifies the general principles pertaining to infringement of economic rights, before turning to the detailed rules on each economic right: to make copies; issue copies to the public; rent or lend commercially to the public; perform, show, or play in public; communication to the public; and make adaptations. It discusses authorisation of infringement (accessory liability) in relation to these economic rights, and finally considers secondary infringement of copyright.
Chapter
This chapter first examines the subject matter in which copyright subsists and the criteria for copyright protection as set out in the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988). This centres on the concept of the ‘protected work’ and makes use of a distinction between what are sometimes known as ‘author works’ (literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and film works) and ‘media works’ (typographical arrangements, sound recordings, broadcasts, and adaptations). It then considers the identification of the first owner of copyright when it comes into existence. It discusses the concept of joint authorship and ownership of copyright works when created in the course of employment. The final section discusses the duration of copyright.
Chapter
L. Bently, B. Sherman, D. Gangjee, and P. Johnson
This chapter deals with the conditions under which copyright law might protect designs as well as the limitations on the term of design protection. It first considers the subsistence of copyright in designs via two routes: either directly, by protecting the form and decoration of articles as artistic works (particularly sculptures, engravings, or works of artistic craftsmanship), or indirectly, by protecting the author of a preliminary document on which a design is based. It then discusses the limitation on protection afforded by design documents in section 51 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Chapter
L. Bently, B. Sherman, D. Gangjee, and P. Johnson
This chapter examines the debate over the question of the appropriate period of protection that ought to be granted to copyright works, with emphasis on literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works as well as films and entrepreneurial works (sound recordings, broadcasts, and typographical arrangements of published editions). It begins by considering the provisions of the EU Term Directive with regards to the duration of protection for such works and then discusses a number of exceptions to the general rule that the duration of copyright works is life plus 70 years. It also analyses the so-called publication right provided to those who first publish works in which copyright has lapsed. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the optimal term of copyright protection.
Chapter
This chapter examines the subsistence of copyright. Subsistence is a central requirement for copyright protection — unless it is established that copyright subsists in one's work, one cannot make a viable claim that someone else has used one's work without permission. Section 1 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA) declares that copyright is a property right which subsists in an exhaustive, or closed, list of eight different categories of ‘work’: original literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic works; sound recordings, films, or broadcasts; and the typographical arrangement of published editions. Originality is the paramount criterion of copyright protection. For this reason, there are a great many cases that consider how to define the level of originality required for a piece of literature, drama, music, or art to be protected.
Chapter
L. Bently, B. Sherman, D. Gangjee, and P. Johnson
This chapter deals with the conditions under which copyright law might protect designs as well as the limitations on the term of design protection. It first considers the subsistence of copyright in designs via two routes: either directly, by protecting the form and decoration of articles as artistic works (particularly sculptures, engravings, or works of artistic craftsmanship), or indirectly, by protecting the author of a preliminary document on which a design is based. It then discusses section 52 of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which limited the term of protection of copyright for mass-produced designs to twenty-five years, and its demise.
Chapter
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. Copyright refers to a set of exclusive rights in relation to cultural works such as literature, newspapers, photographs, drawings, artworks, films, music, and plays, and also extends to less obviously aesthetic creations, such as computer programs and databases. This chapter discusses the history, justifications, and sources of UK copyright law as well as the requirements for copyright protection. The requirements for protection that are explored are subject matter, originality,and fixation. The impact of EU copyright law on these UK requirements is examined.
Chapter
Justine Pila and Paul L.C. Torremans
This chapter introduces the European law of copyright and related rights with an overview of its basic principles. It then considers the European (EU) statutory framework governing copyright and related rights and the policy agenda of the European Commission on which it is based, including the Commission’s digital single market initiatives. The chapter then concludes with a wider discussion of the EU’s response to the challenges posed by globalization and digital technology. The picture to emerge is one of ever-growing legislative fragmentation off-set by ever-growing substantive harmonisation as a result of thirty years of active EU law- and policy-making, including a large number of policy communications and harmonizing directives, the ratification of several international agreements, and almost daily decisions from the Court of Justice.
