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BU Policies and Procedures

Copyright Information

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 is designed to protect the creator of original work from either moral or economic exploitation. It prevents anyone other than the copyright owner copying, publishing, adapting or performing a work, except under special circumstances. Information covered by copyright includes:

  • original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works (this includes anything written, computer software, tables, journals, letters, unpublished works)
  • databases
  • sound recordings, films and video recordings, broadcasts or cable programmes
  • typographical arrangements of published editions

Please note that there is no formal process for registering copyright - the work simply belongs to the person who created it and as such, does not always include the symbol ©

 
How is intellectual property (IP) defined?

The UK government states that: “Intellectual property is something unique that you physically create. An idea alone is not intellectual property. For example, an idea for a book doesn’t count, but the words you’ve written do” This quote is taken from the 'Intellectual Property Note for Students' linked on the following BU webpage (scroll down page and under 'Policies and Procedures' heading, select the 'Intellectual Property' link)

Centre for Intellectual Property Policy & Management, 2012. Introduction to UK copyright law (1 of 5) [online, video]. Poole: CIPPM Bournemouth University. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc8YXIg82Q0 [Accessed 29 September 2022]