Copyright protects creative or artistic works.

The law governing copyright in the UK is the Copyright, Design and Patents Act (CDPA) (1988) and amendments. It exists to protect the intellectual standing and economic rights of creators and publishers of all literary, dramatic, artistic, musical, audiovisual and electronic works.

Do you need to apply for it?
As long as the work is original, copyright protection is automatic. In the UK where there is no registration or other procedures to follow, copyright exists whether or not it is asserted using the © symbol or otherwise. The copyright symbol (©) was established by the Universal Copyright Convention in 1952 and when used signifies that the work is copyright protected.

Who owns copyright?
In the first instance copyright ownership rests with the author or creator of a literary, musical, or artistic work. However if the work was undertaken in the course of employment the employer will probably own the copyright unless there is a contract to specify otherwise.

Copyright is unusual in that it can be assigned or sold to another person or organisation: frequently an author may assign some or all of his/her copyrights to a publisher.

What does having copyright mean?
Copyright owners have exclusive rights to their work which include the right:

• To copy work
• To issue copies of the work to the public
• To perform, show or play the work in public
• To broadcast the work or include it in a television programme or service
• To adapt the work or do any of the above in relation to the adaptation.

Therefore anybody doing any of the above without permission or licence is infringing copyright. You should only copy or use a copyrighted work with the copyright owner's permission.

What can you copyright?
• Writing, including novels, instruction manuals, computer programs, song lyrics, newspaper articles and some types of database

• Performance Art

• Music

• Art, including paintings, engravings, photographs, sculptures, collages, architecture, technical drawings, diagrams, maps and logos

• Layouts used to publish a work ie for a book or magazine

• Recordings or broadcasts of a work, including sound and film

Copyright does not protect ideas for a work. However, when an idea is fixed, for example in writing, copyright automatically protects it. This means that you do not have to apply for copyright.

Copyright applies to any medium, which means that you must not reproduce copyright protected work in another medium without permission. This includes publishing photographs on the internet, making a sound recording of a book, etc.