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1.5 Who owns copyright?

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  1. Works - the general rule of copyright ownership

    The owner of the copyright in works will generally be the author, such as the person who put the work in a material form (eg the writer, artist, composer, etc). There are certain important exceptions to this rule, as set out in section 1.6.

  2. Other subject matter - the general rule of copyright ownership

  3. The owner of the copyright in sound recordings , films and broadcasts will generally be the maker of the subject matter.

    This means that:

    • the owner of copyright in a sound recording is the person who owns the material on which the first recording is made (such as the record company)
    • the owner of copyright in films is the person who arranged for the film to be made (the producer)
    • the owner of copyright in a broadcast is the person who made the broadcast (the broadcaster)

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