What is Copyright?

Copyright is an exclusive right granted to the authors or creators of” original works”, which works include literary, music, artistic, cinematograph and sound recordings, both published and unpublished. Copyright does not protect ideas. It only protects the specific and original expression on the idea.

When does Copyright begin?

Copyright protection is automatic. The act of creating and fixing the work also creates the copyright. There is no requirement to register for copyright. For example, copyright in musical work and/or sound recording begins automatically once a piece of music is created and recorded (e.g. on video, tape or CD or by simply writing down the notation of a score).

How long does copyright last?

Copyright in musical work holds for the lifetime of the author and fifty years after the death of the author, while copyright in sound recording holds for fifty years after the end of the year in which the recording was first published.

What does Copyright afford the owner?

Copyright is an exclusive right and gives it’s a creator or owner of a work a “basket of rights”, which includes, the sole right to produce the copyrighted work in a material form, to publish the work, to perform the work in public, to make any cinematograph film or a record in respect of the work, to broadcast or communicate the work to the public by loudspeaker or other similar device, to issue sell or rent copies of the public, etc.