Copyright protects the work of author or creator and stops others from using it without his permission. United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office does not register Copyright as it does the Trademark, Patent and Design. However the author automatically gets copyright protection when he creates any of the following works:
- The original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work
- Illustration and photography
- Original non-literary written work
- Sound and music recordings
- Film and television recordings
- Broadcasts
- Dramatic and musical works
The creator can mark his work with the copyright symbol © his name and the year of creation. Whether this mark displays on the work or not doesn’t affect the level of protection. Copyright protects the work in the following ways by preventing any one except author or owner:
- Copying of work
- Distributing copies of it, whether free of charge or for sale
- Renting or lending copies of the work
- Performing, showing or playing your work in public
- Making an adaptation of your work
The work could be protected by copyright in other countries through international agreements, eg the Berne Convention. The UK is a member of several international conventions in the field of copyright:
- Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
- Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations
- World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)
WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) - Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
Copyright material created by UK nationals or residents and falling within the scope of one of these conventions is automatically protected in each member country of the convention by the national law of that country.
Intellectual Property Logium provide following services relating to Copyright in UK:
- License
- Selling
- Assignment
- Copyright Contracts and Agreements
