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What happens if my work is used outside the UK?

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act primarily governs the use of works in the UK.

However, the UK is a signatory to a number of international treaties which seek to protect the copyright of works when used overseas. These include the 1996 World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Copyright Treaty; the WIPO Performers and Phonograms Treaty; the Berne Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC); the Rome Convention for performers, phonogram producers and broadcasters, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) TRIPS Agreement.

A fundamental principle of international copyright law is they must give the same level of protection to the works of other nationals as that afforded to copyright works of its own citizens. This means that the works of UK nationals are protected all over the world.

It also means that ALCS has been able to negotiate bilateral agreements with overseas collecting societies to collect and distribute monies for UK writers’ works when they are used internationally.