Copyright is a system of law designed to give creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangement of published editions, the right to control the ways in which their work is used. This includes broadcasting, public performance, copying, adapting, renting, lending to the public. It also includes what are known as 'moral rights', i.e. the right to be known as the author of the work and to object to distortions of the work in question. In the UK copyright law is governed under the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
Only a copyright holder has the right to:
Copyright is an automatic right that arises whenever an idea is given a fixed expression, i.e. written down, painted, filmed, photographed etc. It is important to note that copyright only protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. However, there are certain aspects that a work must have to be eligible for copyright: it must be original and exhibit a certain degree of labour or skill.
Image by opensourceway under a CC-BY-SA licence - Accessed 19.09.2023
Employer: Anything created as part of your job role, whether in your official work hours or not, would belong to your employer, unless otherwise specified in your contract of employment. Generally the University does not assert copyright for research/scholarly works - see staff IP Policy.
Student: Some universities require that students assign copyright on any work they create as part of their degree to the university; however, the University of Derby does not require this (some exemptions apply, such as commissions - see student IP Policy.
Publisher: Unless you have Retained your Rights to your work some publishers require authors, researchers to sign a 'Copyright Transfer Agreement' to enable their work to be published in an academic journal / book.
Funder: If your peer-reviewed work has been funded or partly funded by a funding organisation such as UKRI, Wellcome Trust, their funding mandates stipulate that the Author Accepted Manuscript or AAM must be published with a CC BY or CC BY SA Licence with no embargo.
Commissions: Any work commissioned by a third party would belong to the individual or organisation who commissioned the work, not the creator.
Social media: Whilst you own the copyright of the original work you posted onto a social media site such as WhatsApp, Facebook i.e. a painting or photograph, by using that social media site you have also agreed to license your content and allow them to use your content as set out in their terms and conditions. This means that companies could use your content for commercial purposes and without your permission.
Copyright can be bought and sold, just as any other asset. It can also be bequeathed upon death to heirs or others until the duration of the copyright term has expired.
Image by opensource.com under a CC BY SA licence - Accessed 19.09.2023
