The UK Copyright Service provides copyright registration for original works by writers, musicians, artists, designers, software providers, authors, companies, organisations and individuals.
Known as Copyright Witness internationally, and the UK Copyright Service in the UK, the service supports international copyright protection by securing independent evidence that will help prove originality and ownership in any future claims or disputes.
The copyright registration service
Immediate worldwide protection for your work.
Online copyright registration is quick and easy, providing instant worldwide protection for your work.
Unlike postal applications, or alternative services, there is no limit on the amount you can upload within a single registration.
Do you need to register?
The free self assessment will help you decide if you need to register.
Copyright registration with the UK Copyright Service is the fast, effective and low cost way to protect your work from infringement and misuse, and ensures you always have the best evidence to protect your work and your rights.
Whether you are a song writer, designer, artist, author, company or individual, if you produce original work, it is important to protect your intellectual property. Our registration centre provides the very best secured back up and archive management for your work, meaning we can ensure that you always have evidence to support you in any future disputes.
We hold registered copies of thousands of works including:
- Music and lyrics
- Commercial documents and advertising
- Web sites
- Software
- Designs and logos
- Artwork, illustrations and paintings
- Photographs
- Written documents, scripts, books, manuscripts and poems
- Film footage, plays and TV programmes
- Magazines and periodicals
Register online
With the easy to use online copyright registration system your work can be protected within minutes and there is no limit on the amount of data you can upload for protection.
Register by post
Traditional applications by post are also accepted via our postal application form. This is ideal for larger works that may be slow to upload or if you have a slow Internet connection.
The intellectual property information pages
Copyright infringement is a huge worldwide issue.
The IIPA estimated worldwide trade losses for 2005 due to piracy was 13,859,100,000 USD
Source: IIPA Feb 2007 http://www.iipa.com
Help to protect your work: Ensure it is properly marked, and that you have proper evidence to support legal action.
Don't believe it could happen to you?
Think again...
We regularly receive correspondence from people whose work has been plagiarised or otherwise infringed. Many wish they had registered when they had the chance.
Even our own material is not immune.
We have had to take action on several occasions against companies that copied our materials or attempted to trade off our name and reputation.
Top quality protection
The UK Copyright Service follow strict policies and procedures over the storage and security of your work. This coupled with our experience mean that you can be certain that your work is in safe hands.
Our information pages deal with laws, infringement, notices, common questions and other issues.
Fact sheets
P-08: Copyright law - The Berne Convention
P-14: The Universal Copyright Convention
P-15: Designs and design rights
P-17: Updating copyright registrations
P-18: Names, titles and copyright
P-19: Using registered notices
Our 3 most popular fact sheets, ‘UK copyright law’, ‘using copyright notices’ and ‘copyright infringement’ are also available in a free to reproduce PDF format for educational establishments, advice centres and other non-commercial organisations. Download the free fact sheet pack.
Help pages
The answers to our most commonly asked questions about copyright.
Answers to frequently asked questions about registration.
Postal copyright registration questions
Answers most questions about the postal registration process. Also, if you are submitting by post, and are unsure what format to send your registration, or how to register an unusual item, the registration format pages will help you decide.
Answers most questions about the online registration process. Registering online is by far the most popular method. For most applicants, online registration provides a faster and cheaper way to register work securly.
We accept most major credit/debit cards, and all personal details are 100% secure.
