Categorisation

Copyright provides the owner with the exclusive right to do, and authorise others to do, certain acts in relation to eligible works. Copyright works have been formally categorised in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) providing clarity about the various categories, but since then, the lines separating the categories have become blurred, in part due to the digital revolution and the greater complexity of creative output. This has led to a level ambiguity if the categories of work listed in CDPA 1988 are an exhaustive list, outside of which copyright protection is unavailable, or if copyright can subsist in a work that is not listed in CDPA 1988. The categories of work are set out in CDPA 1988, s 1(1):

1. •

   original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works

2. •

   sound recordings, films or broadcasts, and

3. •

   typographical arrangements of published editions

Previous UK case law found that a piece created that does not fit into the categories above would not be eligible for copyright protection—in