Q. Who owns the copyright in a work?

In the first instance copyright ownership rests with the author or creator of a work. However if the work was undertaken in the course of employment the employer will probably own the copyright unless there is a contract to specify otherwise.

Copyright can be assigned, sold, leased to, or inherited by another person or organisation: frequently an author may assign some or all of his/her copyrights to a publisher. Therefore when seeking to identify the copyright owner the most likely parties to consider are:

• Creator or author
• Employer
• Person who undertakes the arrangements (commissions the work)
• The producer
• The publisher

Copyright owners have exclusive rights to their work which include the right:

• to copy work
• to issue copies of the work to the public
• to perform, show or play the work in public
• to broadcast the work or include it in a cable programme service
• to rent or lend the work
• to adapt the work or do any of the above in relation to the adaptation

If you are not the rights holder and want to do any of these things you will need the rights holder’s permission.