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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Key definition
Copyright definition What does Copyright mean? In legal practice, copyright protects how original creative works are used, licensed and monetised. It is a statutory intellectual property right that arises automatically on creation (no registration) and gives the owner exclusive rights to copy, issue copies to the public, perform, show or play, communicate to the public and adapt the work. Across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, copyright is defined and governed by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. In Ireland, it is governed by the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000. Protected subject matter includes literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, films, sound recordings,...
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UK copyright protectable works: categorisation, originality/identifiability and fixation, artistic craftsmanship, design overlap and section 51, artist’s resale right, and post‑Brexit divergence from EU case law
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Practice notes
Categorisation
Copyright grants the proprietor the exclusive ability to carry out, and to authorise others to carry out, particular acts in respect of qualifying works. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) formally sets out categories of protected works, bringing certainty about the types recognised. However, the boundaries between these groupings have since become less distinct, partly because of the digital revolution and the growing intricacy of creative production. This has created uncertainty as to whether the CDPA 1988 categories are exhaustive—so that anything outside them is not protected—or whether copyright may subsist in creations not expressly listed in the statute. Debate therefore persists about the scope of protection available to works that defy neat classification under the statutory scheme.
CDPA 1988, s 1(1) identifies the categories:
- original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works
- sound recordings, films or broadcasts, and
- typographical arrangements of published editions
These headings delineate what the legislation regards as eligible subject matter. Earlier UK authority determined that a work falling outside these headings would not attract protection. In Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth, for example, copyright was refused for the helmet worn by ‘Stormtrooper’ characters in the Star Wars film franchise...
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Web page updated on 22/05/2026
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