Ownership and Duration of Copyright

All these works are automatically protected by copyright in the UK. Unlike other IP rights, protection is also automatically given to works from EU member states or from countries that are parties to international conventions (the Berne Copyright Convention 1886 or the Universal Copyright Convention 1952, which cover most nations in the world) or to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). All these are qualifying countries. Protection is given to qualifying persons, i.e. citizens of or residents in the qualifying countries or bodies incorporated under the law of a qualifying country. One of the important international agreements is the TRIPs Agreement (the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) signed in 1994 on establishing the WTO. The Agreement is used by sovereign states wishing to complain to the WTO about the lack of intellectual property protection, while individual owners must enforce their rights through national courts. In England and Wales, such disputes are resolved in the Chancery Division of the High Court or in the Copyright Tribunal.

The author is usually the creator of the work but, in the case of films, sound recordings, etc. he may be the person who made the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work, such as the producer, the publisher, etc. In most cases the author is the first owner of the copyright. However, there is one important statutory exception to this general rule: if a work is created by an employee in the course of his employment, then his employer will be the first owner of copyright in the work. In deciding disputes between employers and employees, the courts will consider the questions: a) was that type of work an integral part of what the person was employed to do (to what extent was it part of his contractual duties)? b) was it done in his own time? It may be noted in passing that in many countries employees own copyright in their works. In most countries government documents do not enjoy copyright protection, but in Britain the opposite is the case: there are specific provisions in the 1988 Act on ownership of Crown and parliamentary copyright and copyright of international organisations.

Besides the rights of ownership of copyright, the 1988 Act gives recognition to the moral rights of the creator, which is especially relevant when the creator does not own copyright. These rights are: 1) the right to be identified as the author (paternity right); 2) the right to object to derogatory treatment of the work (integrity right); and 3) the right not to have a work falsely attributed. Moral rights apply to all copyright works except computer programs, typefaces and computer-generated works. For the paternity right to exist, it must be asserted by the author in writing, for example on the reverse of the title page of the book or in some other written document.

Under the same Act, commissioners of a photograph, sound recording, engraving or portrait are no longer the first owners of the copyright in the resulting work, but case law has developed to give commissioners certain rights of use. Commissioners of photographs or films of private events (weddings, christenings) are given a moral right to prevent the photographs or films being issued or exhibited in public. Since February 2006 a new right, known as droit de suite, entitles an artist to a royalty on every subsequent resale of his works. The resale right applies so long as copyright subsists in the work and only to resales of €1,000 and over; and it is subject to various other conditions.

For most works copyright lasts for 70 years from the end of the year in which the author dies.

For films the term is 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last of the following persons dies: principal director, authors of the screenplay and dialogues, or composer. For computer-generated works, sound recordings and broadcasts the period runs to 50 years from the end of the year of making or release; and for typographical arrangements - to 25 years from the end of the year of first publication. Protection for artistic works which have been industrially exploited is reduced to 25 years from the end of the year of first marketing. Most moral rights last for as long as the copyright in the work lasts.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 709