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Restricted Acts: What Constitutes Copyright Infringement?
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When a work is copyrighted, there are acts which are restricted; meaning if a restricted act is carried out then the copyright of the work has been infringed.
So what are these restricted acts? I.e., what are people effectively not allowed to do to the work when it has been copyrighted? Well, like with the protection requirements this depends on the work in question.
If by this point you’re confused it’s likely you haven’t read our post on ‘Understanding Copyright: What Works Can Be Copyrighted and the Key Requirements To Do So’ - I would really recommend doing that before continuing to read this.
Restricted act | Relevant section of the CDPA 1998 | Works where the act in question would be considered infringement |
Copying the work | s 17 | All works |
Issuing copies of the work to the public | s 18 | All works |
Renting or lending the work to the public | s 18A | Literary works, dramatic works, musical works, films, sound recordings and certain types of artistic works |
Preforming, showing or playing the work in public | s 19 | Literary works, dramatic works, musical works, films, sound recordings and broadcasts |
Communicating the work to the public | s 20 | All works except TAPE |
Adapting the work | s 21 | Literary works, dramatic works and musical works |
One important key distinction that I want to point out is between issuing copies of work to the public and communicating the work to the public - issuing copies refers to physical copies (copying a CD and giving it out) whereas communication to the public is digital copies (making someone’s work available on the internet)