Copyright

I

Introduction

Copyright, property right that arises automatically on the creation of various categories of work, and protects the rights and interests of the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, satellite and cable programmes, and the typographical arrangements of published editions.

Copyright protects the expression of an idea rather than the idea itself. As an example of this, in a famous copyright case Hughie Green could not establish copyright in the format of his game show “Opportunity Knocks” when suing the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC). The fact that the NZBC had produced a show with a similar overall format did not infringe Green’s copyright.

Copyright does not have to be registered. Once a work has been created in tangible form—a book, painting, programme, or recording of a piece of music—the creators or rights owners can keep to themselves (or authorize to others) the exclusive right to copy, publish, perform, broadcast, or adapt their work.

II

History of Copyright

Since the first British Statute of Queen Anne (1709), copyright law has developed widely. Most countries now have legislation that broadly follows the tenets of either the United States Copyright Act of 1976, or the United Kingdom Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988, or the Acts of 1956 and 1911 that preceded it.

Copyright laws are national, and all vary in the detail of the protection they afford, but the Berne Convention of 1886 (with later revisions) and the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) of 1952 try to give basic common protection to copyright interests across national boundaries.

The UCC requires that works claiming copyright protection display the © symbol, together with the name of the copyright owner(s) and the year of publication; however, a work not showing these details may well still be subject to copyright protection.

III

Duration of Copyright

The duration, or legal term, of copyright varies internationally, but “life-plus-50-years” is common in many parts of the world—that is, copyright exists in a work for 50 years from the end of the year in which the author died. Several countries in the European Union (EU), including the United Kingdom, have now increased this term to 70 years in the case of literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works.

In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, copyright also protects the typographical arrangement of a publication for 25 years, while sound recordings, broadcasts, and computer-generated works are generally protected for 50 years from the end of the year in which the item was first broadcast or released.

There is one exception to these copyright periods. J. M. Barrie bequeathed the copyright of Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children: by section 301 of the Copyrights, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 this copyright was extended indefinitely and the hospital has the right to royalties. The extension only applies in the United Kingdom.

In certain circumstances an artist has the right to a royalty on the resale of his or her work (the “droit de suite”). This right exists in Europe, California, and, in very recent times, the United Kingdom. In 1996 the EU Commission ordered all member states to introduce this right into their domestic law by 2006. The droit de suite gives artists the legal right to receive a small share of the profits made on the second and subsequent sales of their works, during their lives and for 70 years after death. In the United Kingdom living artists will have this right by 2006, and by 2012, the right will be given to the estates of artists who have died within the previous 70 years.

IV

Ownership of Copyright

The author or creator of a work is typically the owner of the copyright, unless he or she assigns that right to someone else, or completes the work in the course of employment, in which case the employer will own the copyright and be entitled to all the economic (but not the moral) rights in that work.