Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1988 c. 48 |
Copyright, Designs andPatents Act 1988
1988 CHAPTER 48
An Act to restate the law of copyright, with amendments; to make fresh provision as to the rights of performers and others in performances; to confer a design right in original designs; to amend the Registered Designs Act 1949; to make provision with respect to patent agents and trade mark agents; to confer patents and designs jurisdiction on certain county courts; to amend the law of patents; to make provision with respect to devices designed to circumvent copy-protection of works in electronic form; to make fresh provision penalising the fraudulent reception of transmissions; to make the fraudulent application or use of a trade mark an offence; to make provision for the benefit of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London; to enable financial assistance to be given to certain international bodies; and for connected purposes.
[15th November 1988]
B e it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Copyright
Chapter I
Subsistence, ownership and duration of copyright
Introductory
1 Copyright and copyright works.
(1) Copyright is a property right which subsists in accordance with this Part in the following descriptions of work—
(a) original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works,
(b) sound recordings, films, broadcasts or cable programmes, and
(c) the typographical arrangement of published editions.
(2) In this Part ‘copyright work’ means a work of any of those descriptions in which copyright subsists.
(3) Copyright does not subsist in a work unless the requirements of this Part with respect to qualification for copyright protection are met (see section 153 and the provisions referred to there).
2 Rights subsisting in copyright works.
(1) The owner of the copyright in a work of any description has the exclusive right to do the acts specified in Chapter II as the acts restricted by the copyright in a work of that description.
(2) In relation to certain descriptions of copyright work the following rights conferred by Chapter IV (moral rights) subsist in favour of the author, director or commissioner of the work, whether or not he is the owner of the copyright—
(a) section 77 (right to be identified as author or director),
(b) section 80 (right to object to derogatory treatment of work), and
(c) section 85 (right to privacy of certain photographs and films).
Descriptions of work and related provisions
3 Literary, dramatic and musical works.
(1) In this Part—
‘literary work’ means any work, other than a dramatic or musical work, which is written, spoken or sung, and accordingly includes—
(a) a table or compilation, and
(b) a computer program;
‘dramatic work’ includes a work of dance or mime; and
‘musical work’ means a work consisting of music, exclusive of any words or action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music.
(2) Copyright does not subsist in a literary, dramatic or musical work unless and until it is recorded, in writing or otherwise; and references in this Part to the time at which such a work is made are to the time at which it is so recorded.
(3) It is immaterial for the purposes of subsection (2) whether the work is recorded by or with the permission of the author; and where it is not recorded by the author, nothing in that subsection affects the question whether copyright subsists in the record as distinct from the work recorded.
4 Artistic works.
(1) In this Part ‘artistic work’ means—
(a) a graphic work, photograph, sculpture or collage, irrespective of artistic quality,
(b) a work of architecture being a building or a model for a building, or
(c) a work of artistic craftsmanship.
(2) In this Part—
‘building’ includes any fixed structure, and a part of a building or fixed structure;
‘graphic work’ includes—
(a) any painting, drawing, diagram, map, chart or plan, and
(b) any engraving, etching, lithograph, woodcut or similar work;
‘photograph’ means a recording of light or other radiation on any medium on which an image is produced or from which an image may by any means be produced, and which is not part of a film;
‘sculpture’ includes a cast or model made for purposes of sculpture.
5 Sound recordings and films.
(1) In this Part—
‘sound recording’ means—
(a) a recording of sounds, from which the sounds may be reproduced, or
(b) a recording of the whole or any part of a literary, dramatic or musical work, from which sounds reproducing the work or part may be produced,
regardless of the medium on which the recording is made or the method by which the sounds are reproduced or produced; and
‘film’ means a recording on any medium from which a moving image may by any means be produced.
(2) Copyright does not subsist in a sound recording or film which is, or to the extent that it is, a copy taken from a previous sound recording or film.
6 Broadcasts.
(1) In this Part a ‘broadcast’ means a transmission by wireless telegraphy of visual images, sounds or other information which—
(a) is capable of being lawfully received by members of the public, or
(b) is transmitted for presentation to members of the public;
and references to broadcasting shall be construed accordingly.
(2) An encrypted transmission shall be regarded as capable of being lawfully received by members of the public only if decoding equipment has been made available to members of the public by or with the authority of the person making the transmission or the person providing the contents of the transmission.
(3) References in this Part to the person making a broadcast, broadcasting a work, or including a work in a broadcast are—
(a) to the person transmitting the programme, if he has responsibility to any extent for its contents, and
(b) to any person providing the programme who makes with the person transmitting it the arrangements necessary for its transmission;
and references in this Part to a programme, in the context of broadcasting, are to any item included in a broadcast.
(4) For the purposes of this Part the place from which a broadcast is made is, in the case of a satellite transmission, the place from which the signals carrying the broadcast are transmitted to the satellite.
(5) References in this Part to the reception of a broadcast include reception of a broadcast relayed by means of a telecommunications system.
(6) Copyright does not subsist in a broadcast which infringes, or to the extent that it infringes, the copyright in another broadcast or in a cable programme.
7 Cable programmes.
(1) In this Part—
‘cable programme’ means any item included in a cable programme service; and
‘cable programme service’ means a service which consists wholly or mainly in sending visual images, sounds or other information by means of a telecommunications system, otherwise than by wireless telegraphy, for reception—
(a) at two or more places (whether for simultaneous reception or at different times in response to requests by different users), or
(b) for presentation to members of the public,
and which is not, or so far as it is not, excepted by or under the following provisions of this section.
(2) The following are excepted from the definition of ‘cable programme service’—
(a) a service or part of a service of which it is an essential feature that while visual images, sounds or other information are being conveyed by the person providing the service there will or may be sent from each place of reception, by means of the same system or (as the case may be) the same part of it, information (other than signals sent for the operation or control of the service) for reception by the person providing the service or other persons receiving it;
(b) a service run for the purposes of a business where—
(i) no person except the person carrying on the business is concerned in the control of the apparatus comprised in the system,
(ii) the visual images, sounds or other information are conveyed by the system solely for purposes internal to the running of the business and not by way of rendering a service or providing amenities for others, and
(iii) the system is not connected to any other telecommunications system;
(c) a service run by a single individual where—
(i) all the apparatus comprised in the system is under his control,
(ii) the visual images, sounds or other information conveyed by the system are conveyed solely for domestic purposes of his, and
(iii) the system is not connected to any other telecommunications system;
(d) services where—
(i) all the apparatus comprised in the system is situated in, or connects, premises which are in single occupation, and
(ii) the system is not connected to any other telecommunications system,
other than services operated as part of the amenities provided for residents or inmates of premises run as a business;
(e) services which are, or to the extent that they are, run for persons providing broadcasting or cable programme services or providing programmes for such services.
(3) The Secretary of State may by order amend subsection (2) so as to add or remove exceptions, subject to such transitional provision as...
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