Self assessment
This assessment is designed to determine if copyright applies to your work, and also whether you should register your particular work.
Introduction:
When you register your work, you are ensuring there is real independently verifiable evidence of your claim - this can greatly help you in the event of a dispute, but it may not be suitable in all cases. Registration is of course voluntary, but the evidence this provides may be particularly important where the work may have commercial value, and it is often strongly recommended in such cases.
The following questions will take you through the assessment process, and give a recommendation based on your answers for the specific work and circumstances.
Part 1: Classification
Can your work be classified as any of the following?
- Literary
A written, spoken or sung work, e.g. a book, poetry, script, etc.
A computer program, database, or designs for a computer program.
Any commercial document, brochure, synopsis, guide, manual or advertisement. - Dramatic
A play, dance choreography, etc.
- Musical
Musical score or notation
A recording or other representation of a musical work. - Artistic/Design
A photograph, collage, painting or drawing.
A diagram, map, chart or plan.
An engraving, etching, lithograph, woodcut or sculpture.
A web site.
A logo or design.
Typographical arrangement of a published edition (magazine, periodical, etc.) - Sound Recording
A recording of literary, dramatic or musical works.
- Film
A broadcast, film or video recording, (this may include a sound track).
One or more of these descriptions apply to the work.
The work does not fall into any of these categories.
Work not suitable for registration
Copyright does not apply to your work.
Copyright only applies to literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works.
We hope that this assessment has been useful.
Part 2: Employment
Was the work created for, or on behalf of a company or organisation, or made during the course of employment?
Part 2 (continued): Employment - your role
Are you registering on behalf of the company/organisation for whom the work was undertaken?
Part 2 (continued): Employment status
Are you an employee of the company you completed the work for?
Part 2 (continued): Employment contract
Does your employment contract state that you will own the copyright to the work?
Not eligible to register
For commission works, or works created during the course of employment, the copyright is usually held by the employer or commissioning party.
Therefore you cannot register the work specified, you can however recommend to your employer that they register the work if they have not already done so.
We hope that this assessment has been useful.
Part 2 (continued): Freelance work
The copyright ownership of freelance work will often depend on the agreement between the contractor and commissioner of the work.
By default (without an agreement/contract), for ad hoc one-off works, it is typically the creator of the work that is the first owner of copyright, but in situations such as contract work it is more typical for the employer to be the copyright owner (depending on the terms of the contract)..
The assignment of copyright should form part of the contract of work.
If there is no provision in your terms/contract for this, in place speak to the parties involved to reach an agreement and document this before proceeding.
Does your contract/agreement state that you retain the copyright for the work? Or is it accepted that you will retain the copyright?
Part 3: Originality
Is the work entirely of original creation?
The work is entirely original.
It includes parts from another work.
Part 3 (continued): Quotes and extracts
Has permission been given to use any extracts from other works included in the item you wish to register?
Part 3 (continued): Permissions
Permission needed before publishing
With the exception of older works where copyright has expired and are in the public domain (typically when the author died over 70 years ago), if you are using any materials copied of adapted from someone else's work, the copyright of those parts will remain with their existing copyright owner. To use them without permission will be a breach of copyright in the original work.
You may still be able register your work, but you should either
- Remove the parts that are not your own work from the copy that you submit, or,
- Make it clear which parts are not your own; such as listing these in an acknowledgements section, or other appendix/list included in your deposit.
Please note: You will still need to obtain permission from the existing rights owner(s) for any parts that are not your own original creation before publishing or otherwise distributing copies of the work .
Understanding this, do you wish to continue the assessment?
Permission needed before publishing
With the exception of older works where copyright has expired and are in the public domain (typically when the author died over 70 years ago), if you are using any materials copied of adapted from someone else's work, the copyright of those parts will remain with their existing copyright owner. To use them without permission will be a breach of copyright in the original work.
You may still be able register your work, but you should either
- Remove the parts that are not your own work from the copy that you submit, or,
- Make it clear which parts are not your own; such as listing these in an acknowledgements section, or other appendix/list included in your deposit.
Please note: You will still need to obtain permission from the existing rights owner(s) for any parts that are not your own original creation before publishing or otherwise distributing copies of the work .
We hope that this assessment has been useful.
Part 4: Eligibility
Is the work a name, title, slogan or other short phrase?
Part 4 (continued): Name, title or phrase
Names, titles and other short phrases are not considered unique enough to qualify for copyright protection in their own right.
A logo which combines the words with other artistic/design elements will however be eligible for copyright protection as an artistic work.
Is the work a Logo?
Not suitable
Names are not subject to copyright, and phrases or slogans will not receive any benefit from registration, as they are too small to qualify for any real protection under copyright.
If for corporate/financial reasons you wish to protect this work (perhaps a brand name), you should contact a solicitor with a view to registering a trademark.
We hope that this assessment has been useful.
Part 5: Value and potential
Will the work?
- Have a financial value.
- Be used for financial gain.
- Have a potential value, or
- Have the potential to be used by a third party for financial advantage.
Registration recommended
We recommend that the work is registered.
Any work which has a real or potential financial value should be registered to provide evidence of originality for the copyright owner.
We hope that this assessment has been useful.
Part 6: Availability
Will the work be made available to other parties?
Registration not needed
It is not necessary to register this work.
As you feel that the work cannot be used for financial gain, and is not available to any third parties, the chance of infringement or dispute is very low, and registration is not normally needed.
You may still choose to register the work if you wish, but it is not necessary to do so.
We hope that this assessment has been useful.
Part 7: Usage
Would you object to any of the following?
- If other people or organisations were to freely use, copy or distribute the work?
- If other people or organisations used or copied the work without acknowledging you as the creator?
Registration recommended
We recommend that the work is registered.
Where a work is available to the public/third parties, and the copyright owner would object to unauthorised use, we recommend that the work is registered to ensure there is evidence of originality in the event of an ownership dispute.
We hope that this assessment has been useful.
Registration not needed
It is not necessary to register this work.
As the work is intended to be made freely available to others, and there is no financial remuneration attached, then there is normally little reason to register, unless there are specific rights which you wish to enforce over the work, for example the right to be acknowledged as the author.
You may still choose to register the work if you wish, but it is not necessary to do so.
We hope that this assessment has been useful.