Crown copyright
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Crown copyright is a form of copyright claim used by the governments of the United Kingdom and some of its former colonies.
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In the United Kingdom
Crown copyright applies to all works produced by the British Government subject to the condition that the qualification "Where a work is made by Her Majesty or by an officer or servant of the Crown in the course of his duties" is met. The Crown can also have copyrights assigned to it. There is also a small class of materials where the Crown claims copyright due to Letters Patent. This material includes the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.
Prior to the 17th century the executive, acting on behalf of the monarch, under the royal prerogative, controlled all printing and the granting licences to printers. During the 17th century the Crown lost most of its rights, except with regard to the King James Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, Acts of Parliament and similar. Until 1911 there was no special status for the Crown, excepting these texts.
The Copyright Act 1911 (the 1911 Act), removed the concept of common law copyright protection from British law and it also provided specific protection for government works for the first time. Crown copyright was defined to extend to any work prepared or published by or under the direction or control of His Majesty or any Government department. The Copyright Act 1956 (the 1956 Act) further extended Crown copyright protection by extending the definition to include every original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work made by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or a Government department; sound recordings or cinematograph films made by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or a Government department and works first published in the UK, if first published by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or a Government department .
When the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988 (the 1988 Act) came into force the scope of the definition of Crown copyright was considerably reduced. Crown copyright was defined as subsisting when a "work is made by Her Majesty or by an officer or servant of the Crown in the course of his duties". Crown copyright was also defined as subsisting "in every Act of Parliament, Act of the Scottish Parliament, Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly or Measure of the General Synod of the Church of England". All existing works in Crown copyright were continued as such.
However, some documents have Crown Copyright waived by the government, subject to certain conditions. This was introduced in a white paper in 2000 in order to improve access to government publications. There are 11 classes of copyrights for which waivers are granted. The document concerned, from Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO), is Future Management of Crown Copyright (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/archives/copyright/future_management_cc.doc). Which documents are subject to waivers varies from time to time. The current list (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/guides.htm) may be found on the official site.
Websites are reproducible unless otherwise indicated, but HMSO has stated in correspondence that they do not consider material under Crown Copyright redistributable under such licenses as the GFDL. For example, documents on the website of the Public Records Office (http://www.pro.gov.uk/default.htm)" are subject to the following conditions:
- The material featured on this site is subject to Crown copyright protection unless otherwise indicated. The Crown copyright protected material (other than the Royal Arms and departmental or agency logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium provided it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. Where any of the Crown copyright items on this site are being republished or copied to others, the source of the material must be identified and the copyright status acknowledged.
- Images on this site may not be reproduced without payment of a fee to the Image Library.
- The permission to reproduce Crown protected material does not extend to any material on this site which is identified as being the copyright of a third party. Authorisation to reproduce such material must be obtained from the copyright holders concerned.
The duration of Crown copyright varies depending whether material is published or unpublished. Unpublished material was originally subject to copyright protection in perpetuity. However, the 1988 Act removed this concept from British law. Transitional provisions apply for 50 years after the entry into force of the 1988 Act which mean that no unpublished material will lose its copyright protection until January 1, 2040. New Crown copyright material that is unpublished has copyright protection for 125 years from date of creation. Published Crown copyright material has protection for 50 years from date of publication. Those works protected under Letters Patent have perpetual copyright claimed over them despite being published. Works where copyright is assigned to the Crown by an author are subject to the normal term of protection for that particular type of work, for example life of the author plus 70 years for a literary work.
In Canada
Crown copyright in Canada covers all documents created by the Government of Canada or the government of provinces ("the Crown in right of Canada" or "the Crown in right of Ontario", Quebec, Nunavut, etc.). While the governments of Canada claim copyright on all its documents, it is doubtful whether all of these claims are realistically enforceable. Exceptions such as the text of laws, orders-in-council, or the text of judicial decrees and opinions are sometimes considered in the public domain. There is judicial authority in Canada that a judge's decisions cannot be copyrighted: see Jockey Club v. Standen (1985) 8 C.P.R.(3d) 283, 288 (B.C.C.A.).
As an example, the Queen's Printer for Ontario claims copyright in Ontario statutes, regulations and judicial decisions. However, the Queen's Printer permits any person to reproduce the text and images in the statutes, regulations and judicial decisions without seeking permission and without charge, essentially putting the material in the public domain; however it is not identical with it being in the public domain as the Crown is reserving its moral rights. This may not be applicable in other countries, such as United States, that do not recognize moral rights in their copyright laws. The only caveat is that the materials must be reproduced accurately and the reproduction must not be represented as an official version and should be acknowledged in the following form (with the appropriate year of first publication):
- © Queen's Printer for Ontario, 20—. This is an unofficial version of Government of Ontario legal materials.
Section 12 of the Canadian Copyright Act states that the Canadian government owns the copyright of any work that has been prepared or published by or under the direction or control of any government department subject to any agreement. Crown copyright exists for fifty years from the date of publication.
In New Zealand
Crown copyright in New Zealand is defined by Sections 2(1), 26 and 27 of the Copyright Act 1994. It covers works of the Queen in right of New Zealand, Ministers of the Crown, offices of Parliament and government departments, including works made under contract. For Crown entities and State-owned enterprises, however, regular copyright provisions apply instead.
A term of 100 years applies under Section 26(3)(b), with the exception 25 years for typographical arrangements of published material.
Section 27(1) defines a further exception to Crown copyright and copyright -- Bills, Acts of Parliament, regulations, bylaws, Hansard, tabled select committee reports, court judgments, tribunal judgments, Royal commission reports, commission of inquiry reports, ministerial inquiry reports and statutory inquiry reports do not carry any copyright, regardless of age. Section 27(1) came into effect on 1 April 2001.
Of course, the Section 27(1) exceptions apply in the original work, and do not apply in terms of new typographical editions by others, nor in annotations made by organisations such as legal publishers.
External links
- Application to obtain copyright licence from Canadian government (http://cgp-egc.gc.ca/copyright/application-e.pdf) (PDF file)
- Sterling, J.A.L. "Crown Copyright in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth Countries (http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/conf/dac/en/sterling/sterling.html)".
- Vaver, David. "Copyright and the state in Canada and the United States (http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/conf/dac/en/vaver/vaver.html)".
- Intellectual Property Policy Group, Ministry of Economic Development, New Zealand. What Does Not Qualify for Copyright Protection? (http://www.med.govt.nz/buslt/int_prop/info-sheets/copyright-prot.html#P27_4364) (from Copyright Protection in New Zealand (http://www.med.govt.nz/buslt/int_prop/info-sheets/copyright-prot.html)).
- Ah Kit, Jonathan. Section 27 and Public Domain Page (http://www.ibiblio.org/ahkitj/section27/).