{"id":178077,"date":"2022-11-04T16:16:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T16:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalvision.co.uk\/?p=178077"},"modified":"2023-11-12T22:18:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T22:18:52","slug":"how-to-enforce-your-copyright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalvision.co.uk\/intellectual-property\/how-to-enforce-your-copyright\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Enforce Your Copyright in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are concerned about a competitor using your business’ copyrighted work without your consent, you may wish to know how to enforce your rights in order to both challenge this. Likewise, you will want to prevent it from happening again. This article will discuss how to enforce your copyright in the UK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Copyright?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Copyright<\/a> is a type of intellectual property reserved for mostly creative pieces of work. Copyright ownership is gained automatically once the creative work has been produced. That is, you do not need register your work with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) for you to gain certain rights over it. It also follows that there is not a registered list of all copyrighted items within England, as there are for other forms of intellectual property like trade marks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In order for your work to qualify for protection under copyright, it must be original in character. Likewise, the work requires some skill for it to come into being.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Usually, the individual who is responsible for creating the work is the owner of the copyright. That said, the situation changes where an employee creates the work in the course of their employment. Most employment contracts are governed by a term that automatically vests ownership in the work with the business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Examples<\/span><\/h3>\n

Some examples of creative works that automatically gain copyright protection are:<\/span><\/p>\n