Section 72 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA)

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA) provides copyright owners with a range of rights allowing them to control the use of their works and to seek payment for this use. Among these rights are rights to control the showing, playing and other communication of works to the public. This includes the showing of a film or broadcast to a public audience.

Section 72(1) sets out an exception to these rights. It allows organisations which do not charge for admission to show television programmes to the public without permission from the owners of film and broadcast copyright in those programmes. If an organisation wishes to show broadcasts that contain other copyright elements, for example any original literary, artistic, musical or dramatic works, as well as most commercially produced sound recordings, it still needs the permission of the relevant owners of those works.

Recent court cases have highlighted both legal and policy issues in relation to the provision set out in Section 72, which the proposals set out in this consultation seek to address.

The proposals set out in this consultation will be of particular interest to sports right holders, music right holders, broadcasters, and commercial premises which show television broadcasts to the public. The IPO invites those interested to provide their views. You can do this by completing the response form and sending to us by email or you can write to us at the address below.

There will be an open meeting on Tuesday 8 September to discuss any concerns or questions in relation to the proposals set out in this consultation.

The meeting will take place 1pm to 4pm at the IPO’s London office at 4 Abbey Orchard Street, SW1P 2HT.

If you would like to attend this meeting please let us know by emailing: Section72CDPA@ipo.gov.uk by Thursday 3 September.