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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: subsistence and qualification—protectable works, originality, fixation, ideas/expression, author, publication and broadcast criteria, and post-Brexit assimilated EU law with leading cases
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Practice notes
What formalities are required for copyright protection?
Copyright recognises the value of an author’s intellectual creation whenever a creative work is brought into existence. The governing rules are primarily set out in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988), which came into force on 1 August 1989, in particular.
For works made before 1 August 1989, the earlier Copyright Acts of 1911 or 1956 should be examined as the applicable legislation. Copyright is not a registered right; it subsists automatically once the work has been created and the qualifying circumstances have been satisfied.
As a result, the question of subsistence is often not analysed closely until the owner wishes to licence or assign the right, or to invoke it as a cause of action when commencing proceedings, eg for infringement.
For a creative work to be eligible for copyright protection, certain criteria must be fulfilled in respect of the work itself, and in respect of its author and its publication. Whether copyright subsists depends upon the nature of the work and the circumstances surrounding its creation. Copyright qualification refers to the author’s status and to the particular way in which the work is published...
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Web page updated on 22/05/2026
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Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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