A Beginners’ Guide - Copyright

Copyright is an intellectual property right which protects the creative efforts of the creator of various types of original (i.e. uncopied) work, including for example an artistic, or written work, computer program or drawing.

There is no requirement or procedure for the registration of copyright in New Zealand as copyright comes into existence upon the creation of the work.

Copyright gives the creator of a work the right to allow others to use or copy that work. If you own copyright in a work, you may be entitled to acknowledgement of ownership and a payment if another party uses your work.

There are variations in the term of protection accorded to the copyright owner depending upon the nature of the copyright work. However, protection may be available for a term of up to 75 years after the death of the author of the work in question.

There is no requirement to use the copyright symbol “©” on your work. However, it can be useful to alert others to the copyright in the work. The usual way of doing this is to mark the work with the copyright symbol, the name of the copyright owner, and the year of first publication, e.g. “© Copyright Henry Hughes 2010”.