Fast Facts
- Copyright doesn't protect ideas. The work must be fixed (e.g. written or recorded)
- There is no official registration system for copyright. It's an automatic right
- A Copyright work could be marked with ©, the owner's name, and the year it was created
Take the Copyright quiz!
Think you know your stuff? Test your copyright know-how in this short interactive quiz.
Copyright protects written, theatrical, musical and artistic works as well as film, book layouts, sound recordings, and broadcasts. Copyright is an automatic right, which means you don't have to apply for it.
About copyright
Here you'll find information on the benefits of copyright protection and what an owner's exclusive economic rights are.
Copyright applies to...
Copyright applies to all sorts of written and recorded materials from software and the internet to drawings and photography.
Ownership of copyright works
Ownership of copyright works may depend on the circumstances under which the work was created as this section explains.
Other people's copyright works
You will normally need permission to use someone else's copyright work but in certain very specific situations you may not.
Copyright works are protected across most mediums - so if they're protected in one, they're probably protected in others. It may then be copyright infringement if you create a painting from someone else's photograph or make a sound recording of someone else's book without their permission.