The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Why was it introduced?

In the decades following the Second World War, globalisation and new technology caused a boom in industries such as film, publishing and music, and businesses had a greater reach than ever before. With this surge in activity came an increased need for trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property rights, and a demand for a unified approach across all nations.^[1] International bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization were created, and treaties such as the Berne Convention gained greater prominence.^[2]

In addition, the growth of the digital era made it not only easier to create new intellectual property, but also to infringe it. The threat of piracy led to demands for greater protection of intellectual property than was possible under the previous law.^[3]

What was the aim of the Act?

One of the primary aims of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 was to provide increased protection against piracy for right holders in works such as films and sound recordings.

The Act also aimed to incentivise investment in designs by revolutionising the law of industrial design.^[4] The previous law of design rights had been seen as overly complex and contained anomalies where certain designs would be protected for far longer than others without any real justification for the discrepancy.^[5]

Finally, the Act allowed the UK to ratify the 1971 Paris Act of the Berne Convention, which entered into force for the UK on 2 January 1990.^[6]

What main changes did it make to the law?

The Act repealed the vast majority of the previous legislation governing the area (the Copyright Act 1956). Cornish, Llewelyn and Aplin argue that the Act “restated the statutory law of copyright, on the whole in a plainer and more logical manner” than previous statute.^[7] For example, terms within it were generally better defined than they had been previously.^[8]

The first of the major changes to the law of copyright was the creation of a new rental right for sound recordings, films and computer programs under section 18 as enacted, allowing copyright owners to control rental of copies to the public.^[9] Since 1996, section 18A has provided separate rights of rental and lending for specified categories of work. The Act restated and extended criminal sanctions for specified dealings in infringing copies, including making them for sale or hire, importing them other than for private and domestic use, and certain forms of distribution.^[10] The Act also provided remedies in relation to devices designed to circumvent copy protection.^[11]

The Act was also significant in that it conferred a new “quasi-copyright on performers”.^[12] Earlier legislation had already provided criminal protection against certain unauthorised recordings and broadcasts. Part II provided civil rights relating to the recording and exploitation of qualifying live performances. These are distinct from copyright in the underlying work, which for literary, dramatic and musical works requires recording in writing or otherwise.^[13]

The Act established a statutory framework for moral rights. The first two, the right to be identified as the author or director of a work and the right to object to derogatory treatment, reflected Article 6bis of the Berne Convention.^[14] The third right was to object to false attribution, which had a predecessor in section 43 of the Copyright Act 1956. The fourth was “labelled a right of privacy” and applies to certain uses of photographs or films commissioned for private and domestic purposes.^[15] The rights are subject to statutory exceptions, and the right to be identified normally has to be asserted.

In addition to increasing the rights of authors, the Act also had a great impact on the law of industrial designs. Previously, there had been an encroachment of copyright protection into the realm of industrial designs, which was significant given that the term of protection for copyright was far longer than that for registered designs.^[16] The Design Copyright Act 1968 amended section 10 of the Copyright Act 1956 so that, for certain designs applied industrially, the copyright owner’s ability to prevent the making of articles was limited to 15 years.^[17] Functional designs outside that rule could still receive protection through copyright in the design drawings, generally for 50 years after the author’s death. This was seen as anomalous.^[18] The 1988 Act curtailed that form of indirect protection.^[19] Under section 51, where a design document or model records a design for something other than an artistic work or a typeface, making an article to the design or copying an article made to it does not infringe copyright in the design document or model. An artistic work such as a sculpture falls outside this rule.^[20]

In addition, the lacuna between design works which had not been registered (and so could not attract protection as a registered design) but fell outside of the scope of copyright was filled by creating a new unregistered design right, with a shorter term than its registered counterpart.^[21] The maximum term of protection for registered designs was increased from 15 years to 25 years, subject to renewal.^[22]

Finally, the Act created a new Patents County Court, with the aim of simplifying and lowering the expense of certain patent actions.^[23] The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court replaced the Patents County Court in England and Wales in 2013.^[24]

Key Sections

Part I of the Act deals with copyright protection, and is split into ten chapters. Chapter I establishes the rules for the subsistence, ownership and duration of copyright protection. Chapter II establishes what the rights of a copyright owner are in respect to their work, and consequently what acts infringe these rights. Chapter III establishes ‘permitted acts’ for purposes such as copying for archival purposes.^[25] Chapter IV contains provisions on the new moral rights for authors and directors. Chapter V is primarily concerned with dealings with copyright, but also contains provisions on the non-assignability of moral rights and their transmission after death.^[26] Chapter VI covers remedies and criminal offences relating to infringement, as well as remedies for infringement of moral rights. Chapter VII contains provisions for licensing of copyright, while Chapter VIII establishes the Copyright Tribunal and its powers. Chapter IX contains the qualification rules for copyright protection (by reference to the nationality of the author, country of first publication or place of transmission). Chapter X concludes with miscellaneous provisions.

Part II establishes rights in performances. The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 1996 added performers’ property rights, and the Performances (Moral Rights, etc.) Regulations 2006 added rights to be identified and to object to derogatory treatment in specified circumstances.

Part III introduces the new unregistered design right and the rules associated with it.

Part IV introduces modifications to the law of registered design rights.

Part V contains provisions regulating patent and trade mark agents. Part VI originally provided for patents county courts. Part VII contains miscellaneous and general provisions, including amendments to the Patents Act 1977, which is the principal UK patent statute.

2026 update:

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 remains the principal UK copyright statute. Part III governs UK unregistered design right. Registered designs are principally governed by the Registered Designs Act 1949.

Duration of copyright: The principal terms under sections 12 to 15 run from the end of the relevant calendar year. Special and transitional rules can apply.

• Literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works are generally protected for the life of the author plus 70 years (extended from life plus 50 years by the Duration of Copyright and Rights in Performances Regulations 1995, in force from 1 January 1996).
• Sound recordings generally have a term of 50 years from making, extended to 70 years from first authorised publication within that period or, if unpublished during that period, from first authorised public playing or communication within it. The Copyright and Duration of Rights in Performances Regulations 2013 extended those terms from 50 to 70 years. Section 191 also provides for a 70-year term for specified performers’ rights where a sound recording of the performance is released within the initial 50-year period.
• Film copyright generally lasts 70 years from the death of the last survivor of the principal director, screenplay author, dialogue author and composer of music specially created for the film. Broadcasts generally have a 50-year term and the typographical arrangement of a published edition a 25-year term.

Copyright exceptions: Significant new exceptions have been introduced, primarily through the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Quotation and Parody) Regulations 2014 and related instruments:

• Parody, caricature and pastiche: Fair dealing for these purposes is now permitted under section 30A.
• Quotation: Section 30(1ZA) permits fair dealing by quotation where the work has been made available to the public and no more is used than the specific purpose requires. Sufficient acknowledgement is required unless impracticable.
• Education: Section 32 permits fair dealing for the sole purpose of illustration for instruction, for a non-commercial purpose and with sufficient acknowledgement unless impracticable. Sections 34 to 36 contain separate exceptions for educational establishments.
• Text and data mining: Section 29A permits computational analysis for the sole purpose of non-commercial research where the person has lawful access to the work, subject to the statutory conditions.

The private copying exception introduced in 2014 was quashed by judicial review in R (British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and others) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills [2015] EWHC 2041 (Admin), with prospective effect from 17 July 2015.

Brexit and EU copyright law: Domestic legislation implementing earlier EU copyright directives continued to apply after the end of the transition period, subject to amendments. The UK did not implement the EU Digital Single Market Copyright Directive 2019, including its provisions on press publisher rights and online content-sharing service providers.

Artificial intelligence and copyright: Copying a protected work or a substantial part of it in the UK for AI training requires permission unless a statutory exception applies. Section 29A is limited to non-commercial research. Under sections 9(3) and 178, the author of a computer-generated literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, where there is no human author, is the person who undertakes the arrangements necessary for its creation. If copyright subsists in such a work, the term is 50 years from the end of the year it was made. The government published its report and impact assessment in March 2026 under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. The report did not change the Act’s rules.

In Getty Images v Stability AI [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch), the High Court held that an AI model could be an article for the purposes of section 27, but found that the model at issue did not contain or reproduce copies of the works and was therefore not an infringing copy. The primary copyright claim concerning training was withdrawn and the court did not decide it. The appeal on secondary infringement was listed for 11 and 12 November 2026.

Online enforcement: Section 97A allows the High Court or Court of Session to grant an injunction against a service provider with actual knowledge that another person is using its service to infringe copyright. It has been used to obtain website blocking orders, for example in Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp v British Telecommunications plc [2011] EWHC 1981 (Ch). The trade mark blocking order in Cartier International AG v British Telecommunications plc [2018] UKSC 28 proceeded under the general injunction jurisdiction under section 37(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981. The Supreme Court appeal concerned who should pay the reasonable costs of implementing the order.

Design rights: UK unregistered design right under Part III protects original qualifying designs of the shape or configuration of all or part of an article. Under section 216 it lasts 15 years from the end of the year the design was first recorded or an article was first made to it, whichever occurred first. If articles are first made available for sale or hire within the initial five-year period, it instead lasts 10 years from the end of the year of first sale or hire availability. Supplementary unregistered design protection, introduced after Brexit, protects the appearance of a qualifying product for three years from first disclosure in the UK. Registered designs under the Registered Designs Act 1949 are renewable in five-year periods up to 25 years.

The former section 52 permitted copying certain industrially exploited artistic works after 25 years. Its repeal took effect on 28 July 2016, with transitional provisions. Section 51 continues to apply to design documents and models within its scope. The government’s 4 November 2026 design reform response announced plans to allow supplementary unregistered design protection following first disclosure anywhere in the world, subject to legislation.

Footnotes:

Last updated: 12 November 2026