Duration of copyright

The length of copyright in the UK can depend on a number of different factors. These include:

The table below provides some general guidelines.

Copyright durations
Type of work	Length of copyright
Literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works	In general, for the life of the author/creator plus 70 years from the year in which they died. If author/creator unknown: 70 years from the year in which the work was created or made available e.g. performed, exhibited, published.
Sound Recordings	70 years from the year when the recording was published.
Films	70 years from the year of the death of the last surviving contributor of the following: principal director/producer author of the dialogue author of the screenplay composer of the music
Broadcasts	50 years from the date of first broadcast
Typographical layout of published works	25 years from the year in which the edition was first published
Computer generated works (where there is no human author)	50 years from the year it was created
Unpublished works	The duration of copyright in unpublished works is more complex and dependent on a number of factors. See Unpublished Materials for more information.

Where there are multiple authors copyright duration is normally calculated from the last surviving author.

Basics

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