The legal framework
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 protects original works for the author's life plus seventy years. The crucial difference from American law is that the United Kingdom has fair dealing, not fair use: a use is permitted only if it falls within a specific listed purpose — quotation, criticism or review, news reporting, parody, caricature or pastiche, private study — and is fair. There is no open-ended balancing test.
Key points
| Statute | Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 |
|---|---|
| Term | Life of the author plus 70 years |
| Fair dealing | Closed list of purposes; no general fair use defence |
| Parody | Permitted since 2014, within fair dealing limits |
| Freedom of panorama | Section 62: you may photograph buildings and public sculptures freely |
| Moral rights | Paternity right must be asserted in writing to be enforceable |
| Orphan works | A licensing scheme exists for works whose owner cannot be traced |
| Crown copyright | Government material is covered by its own licence, often permitting reuse |
| Text and data mining | Permitted for non-commercial research only |
In practice
- Assume everything you find online is protected: absence of a copyright notice means nothing.
- Look for an explicit licence — Creative Commons, a stock licence, a written permission — and keep a copy of it.
- Credit alone is not a defence: attribution does not replace permission.
- For anything commercial, get permission in writing and keep it for as long as you use the work.
- Use the Open Government Licence for official material rather than assuming it is free.
Where to go
- Intellectual Property Office guidance.
- Collecting societies: PRS, PPL, DACS, ALCS.
- Own It and other free creator advice services.
Worth knowing
The paternity right — the right to be identified as author — is not automatic in the United Kingdom: it must be asserted, usually in writing in the work itself. Fair dealing requires both a listed purpose and fairness. Satisfying only one of the two is the most common mistake.
Official sources and links
- GOV.UK — official portal for public services and rights
- legislation.gov.uk — the statute book as enacted and revised