Copyright law of the United Kingdom

Under the law of United Kingdom, a copyright is an intangible property right subsisting in certain qualifying subject-matter. Copyright law is governed by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (the 1988 Act), as amended from time to time. As a result of increasing legal integration and harmonisation throughout the European Union a complete picture of the law can only be acquired through recourse to EU jurisprudence.

The modern concept of copyright originated in England, in the year 1710, with the Statute of Anne. Under the Statute of Anne (1710), copyright term lasted 14 years plus an optional renewal of 14 additional years.

Copyright law is now governed by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Act came into force on 1 August 1989, save for some minor provisions. Various amendments have been made to the original statute, mostly originating from European Union directives and related case law.

Copyright arises automatically, without the need for registration. As the law currently stands, the United Kingdom has a closed-list system: copyright only subsists in certain enumerated subject-matter. The eight classes of subject-matter are listed in section 1(1) of the Act. It is a fundamental principle of copyright law that copyright subsists in the expression of an idea, not in an idea itself.

The works in which copyright can subsist are typically divided into two sub-classes. Works in the first sub-class are known as authorial works:

For copyright to subsist in these works, the work itself must be 'original'. This is traditionally seen as requiring that the author exercised skill, labour and judgment in its production. Three of these works are also subject to a fixation requirement: a literary, dramatic, or musical work must be recorded. It is immaterial if this was done without the author's permission.

The second sub-class of works in which copyright subsist are often known as neighbouring or entrepreneurial works:

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