Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) is the primary copyright legislation in the United Kingdom. It replaced the Copyright Act 1956 and related legislation, modernising copyright law for the digital age. The Act defines the categories of works eligible for copyright protection (literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works; sound recordings, films, broadcasts, and typographical arrangements). It establishes the rights of copyright owners (economic and moral rights), the duration of copyright protection, and defences to infringement (fair dealing). The Act also introduced the unregistered design right and reformed the law on performers’ rights.

Legal area: Intellectual property law protects creations of the mind, including inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, and names used in commerce.

Citation: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (1988 c 48)

Full text: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48

Key Provisions

• Part I: Copyright (sections 1-179) - subsistence, ownership, duration, infringement
• Section 1: Copyright subsists in original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works
• Section 16: Acts restricted by copyright (copying, issuing, performing, adapting)
• Section 29: Fair dealing - research and private study
• Section 30: Fair dealing - criticism, review, and news reporting
• Part II: Rights in performances (performers’ property and non-property rights)
• Part III: Design right (unregistered design right)
• Part IV: Registered designs and patents (minor provisions)

Significance

The CDPA 1988 is the foundation of UK intellectual property law. It has been extensively amended, particularly by EU directives implemented through statutory instrument (the Information Society Directive, the Copyright Term Directive, the Digital Single Market Directive). The Act’s fair dealing provisions have been interpreted restrictively compared to US fair use. The Act’s moral rights (attribution, integrity, false attribution, privacy of certain photographs) protect authors’ non-economic interests. The UK’s departure from the EU has led to further amendments, including the introduction of the text and data mining exception and the abolition of the EU exhaustion regime.