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What the law says

Copyright law protects certain kinds of work. It protects works of literature, plays and dramatic works, images, music and audio recordings, visual design and graphics, typefaces, films and broadcasts.

The length of copyright varies for different types of work

For literary works, plays, music and visual arts, it is generally 70 years from the end of the calendar year an author dies. For computer-generated work, the period is 50 years.

Copyright law gives creators and right holders economic and moral rights

Economic rights give artists the exclusive right to make copies of their work, distribute it, rent it, lend it, perform, broadcast and generally make the work available to the public in any way they want.

This means that when you use a work, or quote a small part, you should credit the authors. In many instances you must.

Moral rights allow creators of works to be identified as the author, to object to disrespectful treatment of their work and to not be falsely attributed as the author of work they didn’t create.

Exceptions to copyright infringement

In the UK, people can use material protected by copyright in certain ways without infringing copyright. These include: 

  • non-commercial research and private study 

  • criticism and review (subject to a test of fair dealing)

  • news (excluding photos)

  • court hearings

  • material to help visually impaired people

  • teaching in educational establishments.

However, if you are using large amounts of material or making several copies of it, you may still need to get a copyright holder's permission to do so. You should also always acknowledge the creator when using copyright protected work. 

You might be infringing copyright law if you copy, adapt or make someone else's work public without permission

If you want to use someone else's copyright protected work or share it with the public in any way (including online, broadcast, speeches and photocopies), you usually have to ask permission from the copyright holder or a copyright licensing organisation acting on their behalf.