Copyright is a right granted by law that gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works the ability to control ways their work is used and to earn a fair reward for that use. In the case of authors and publishers it provides a means for them to earn a living by writing and publishing.
In addition to written, musical or artistic works the law also protects sound recordings and films (CDs, videos and DVDs) as well as computer software and broadcasts.
Copyright are exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. Copyright does not protect ideas, only their expression or fixation. In most jurisdictions copyright arises upon fixation and does not need to be registered. - Wikipedia
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the right to make a copy
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the right to distribute copies (publish)
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the right to rent or lend
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the right to perform or exhibit to the public
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the right to transmit or broadcast
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the right to adapt
Copyright is part of a family of intellectual property (IP) rights recognized under UK law. Other forms of IP that enjoy legal protection include Designs, Patents and Trademarks. Copyright law in the UK is automatic and work is legally protected the moment it is created in material form, e.g. written down or recorded. The legal owner in the first instance is the creator (author) of the work. The main exception to this is when the work is created in the course of employment and in these cases the copyright usually belongs to the employer. Copyright protection in the UK generally lasts for 70 years following the death of the author.
Rights granted by copyright law
The UK legislation governing copyright is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The law was amended by the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations of 2003 to comply with EU Directive 2001/29/EC.
The law sets out specific rights that only the author of the work has the right to do. These rights can be placed into two distinct groups; economic and moral.
Economic rights are:
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the right of paternity - to be identified as the owner
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the right of attribution - to not have the work falsely attributed
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the right of integrity - to object to any usage that damages reputation
Moral rights are:
These nine rights are alternatively known as ‘restricted acts’ as they are acts that only the owner can authorize. The copyright owner can manage and exploit their rights by either licensing them or by assigning the rights to a third party. By assigning the rights the advertisement feature owner gives up control of them on an exclusive basis whereas licensing them allows them to authorize restricted acts on a non exclusive basis.
