Ownership of copyright

Where materials are created together by more than one author, they will co-own the copyright as joint authors. You need the permission of all joint authors to make use of the material. They even need each others’ permission before they can use it. 

If work are just placed next to each other (e.g. multiple poems in an anthology) they do not become joint works. Each creator separately owns the copyright in each poem.

Another exception is that material created by employees as part of their employment is generally the copyright of the employer. Whether something is created as part of your employment will depend on all the facts, such as whether you were directed to make it by your employer, whether you worked on it during your working hours, and whether you used your employer’s equipment.

The commissioning of some kinds of material affect the general rules of copyright ownership. This is the case when a party commissions the creation of:

• Portraits and engravings – Portraits (whether painted or drawn) and engravings made under commission the person who commissioned the portrait or engraving is the first copyright owner, unless an agreement says otherwise. If the commissioner of a portrait or engraving informs the creator of the purpose for which the material is required then the original artist can stop the commissioner from using the material for any other purpose.
• Photographs – If the material commissioned is a photograph who is the first copyright owner depends on the nature of the photograph. If the photo is of a private or domestic nature the commissioning party owns the copyright in the photograph, unless an agreement says otherwise. In other cases, the photographer is the first copyright owner, unless there is an agreement in place that says otherwise.
• Sound recordings and films – When sound recordings and films are commissioned the copyright is owned by the commissioning party, unless that has been varied in an agreement.

In relation to contracting the creation of works or other subject-matter, who owns the copyright will depend on the contract. Look to the terms of the contract to determine if rights in the material created fall to the author/maker or the contracting party.

In situations where material is Crown copyright, the Crown is the copyright owner of that material.

Of course, the original copyright owner may have transferred rights to another party through a legal instrument such as a copyright licence, a will or an assignment of rights. Validly executed, the beneficiary of the legal instrument becomes the copyright owner.

Subsequent owners of the copyright may also have transferred their interest to other parties through a legal instrument. Finding out who is the current copyright owner often requires identifying the the first copyright owner (i.e. the original author or maker), then tracing the transfers of rights from the author or maker through each subsequent owner until you arrive at the current owner.