WIsH - Welsh Innovations in Healthcare
Copyright
Copyright is an intellectual property right which protects a broad range of ‘works’ including written work such as guidelines or MicroSoft® PowerPoint® presentations, software and databases, drawings, music and dramatic works. Copyright is an automatic right which does not require any formal registration or fees.
Therefore, provided the work is original, copyright exists as soon as the work is created.
The length of protection for copyright varies depending on the type of work e.g. 70 years beyond the life of the author for literary works; and 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the articles were first marketed for works of artistic copyright which are produced by an industrial process.
Although copyright exists as an automatic right upon the creation of a work, a copyright statement can be used to indicate ownership of the work and alert others to the right. This can act as a deterrent against copying. Ownership of copyright can be indicated by writing the word “copyright” and / or using the copyright symbol together with the year of creation and the name of the copyright owner. The statement should be in a prominent place on the work:
© Copyright 2004 ABC Hospitals NHS Trust. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of the copyright owner.
Copyright exists regardless of the medium it has been created on e.g. paper, software, websites or other electronic material.
Ownership
Ownership of copyright will usually reside with the employer where the employee has created the work in the course of their employment. This will be the case irrespective of whether the work