Copyright abroad

Copyright protects written, theatrical, musical and artistic works as well as film, book layouts, sound recordings, and broadcasts. Copyright is an automatic right, which means you do not have to apply for it. Copyright also applies from software and the internet.

Copyright works are usually protected abroad, automatically in the same way that it is protected in the UK as a member of many international agreements including the Berne Convention. Most countries, including all western European, the USA and Russia, now belong to the Berne Convention. The national law of each country automatically protects copyright works which are entitled for protection, under the rules of other countries who have signed these agreements.

The USA does have an official register for copyright works, although registration is not actually needed to qualify for copyright protection there, (or indeed any country that is a participant of the Berne Convention).

You do not have to mark your work in any way for automatic protection to apply. However, it is sensible to mark your work with the international © symbol, followed by the name of the copyright owner and year in which the work was created.

Protection abroad can also arise from obligations in the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. This forms part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement and may protect your work automatically.

Details of the TRIPS agreement and a list of these countries are on their website.