Can I use copyright to protect my business in the UK?

Many of our clients at Briffa rely on copyright as an IP asset to protect their business. This note addresses some key aspects of copyright in the UK and how you may be able to use it to increase the value of your business.

What is copyright?

Copyright protection in the UK is governed primarily by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988). Copyright is an intellectual property right that protects the original expression of an author’s ideas, rather than the ideas themselves. It applies automatically without the need for registration and covers various categories of works, including original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, and the typographical arrangement of published editions.

Eligibility
For a work to be eligible for copyright protection, it must meet certain criteria. The work must be original, meaning it is the result of the author’s own intellectual creation, and it must be fixed in a tangible medium. Additionally, the author must be a qualifying person, such as a British citizen or a resident of the UK, or the work must be published in the UK or another qualifying country.

What rights does copyright grant to the owner?
Copyright grants the owner exclusive rights to perform certain acts in relation to the protected work, such as copying, distributing, performing, or displaying the work publicly.

These rights allow the copyright holder to control the use of their work and to receive remuneration for its use. Infringement occurs when someone performs any of these restricted acts without the permission of the copyright holder.

Duration
The duration of copyright protection varies depending on the type of work. For example, literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years. Other works, such as sound recordings and broadcasts, have different durations of protection as specified in the CDPA 1988.

In summary, copyright protection in the UK is designed to safeguard the rights of creators by granting them exclusive control over the use of their original works, thereby encouraging creativity and innovation.

If you need help protecting or enforcing your copyright, please feel free to contact one of our specialist intellectual property lawyers.

Daniel Crate – Associate Solicitor