Copyright is the act of presenting someone else's work as your own and not giving credit to the original creator e.g. photographer. The work must be original, which means that it must not have been copied from something that already exists. This is complex and not necessarily straightforward with regards to digital images. Because copyright protection in many cases is automatic and does not need registration, much digital content found on the Internet will be protected by copyright.
Copyright law in the UK is based upon a number of pieces of legislation, case law, directives, treaties and conventions, as well as interpretation. The work must be original, which means that it must not have been copied from something that already exists. This is complex and not necessarily straightforward with regards to digital images. The Copyright Designs and Patent Act 1988 (CDPA) was the first revision of the copyright laws in the UK for 32 years and came into effect in August 1989.
Duration of copyright
Under the present legislation, each classification for copyright has a fixed term for which copyright will last. For literary and artistic works, if the creator is known, the general rule is that copyright lasts for 70 years from the end of the year that the creator died. In terms of photographs, any photograph made in the UK or by a UK citizen since August 1989 will be in copyright for the life of the photographer plus 70 years.
Photographs
If a photograph is of an artistic or literary work, then there may be two copyrights: one copyright in the original object and one in the photograph.
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