Copyright Act 1956

12 Copyright in sound recordings

(1) Copyright shall subsist, subject to the provisions of this Act, in every sound recording of which the maker was a qualified person at the time when the recording was made.

(2) Without prejudice to the preceding subsection, copyright shall subsist, subject to the provisions of this Act, in every sound recording which has been published, if the first publication of the recording took place in the United Kingdom or in another country to which this section extends.

(3) Copyright subsisting in a sound recording by virtue of this section shall continue to subsist until the end of the period of fifty years from the end of the calendar year in which the recording is first published, and shall then expire.

(4) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the maker of a sound recording shall be entitled to any copyright subsisting in the recording by virtue of this section:

Provided that where a person commissions the making of a sound recording, and pays or agrees to pay for it in money or money's worth, and the recording is made in pursuance of that commission, that person, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, shall, subject to the provisions of Part VI of this Act, be entitled to any copyright subsisting in the recording by virtue of this section.

(5) The acts restricted by the copyright in a sound recording are the following, whether a record embodying the recording is utilised directly or indirectly in doing them, that is to say,—

(a) making a record embodying the recording ;

(b) causing the recording to be heard in public ;

(c) broadcasting the recording.

(6) The copyright in a sound recording is not infringed by a person who does any of those acts in the United Kingdom in relation to a sound recording, or part of a sound recording, if—

(a) records embodying that recording, or that part of the recording, as the case may be, have previously been issued to the public in the United Kingdom, and

(b) at the time when those records were so issued, neither the records nor the containers in which they were so issued bore a label or other mark indicating the year in which the recording was first published:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply if it is shown that the records in question were not issued by or with the licence of the owner of the copyright, or that the owner of the copyright had taken all reasonable steps for securing that records embodying the recording or part thereof would not be issued to the public in the United Kingdom without such a label or mark either on the records themselves or on their containers.

(7) Where a sound recording is caused to be heard in public—

(a) at any premises where persons reside or sleep, as part of the amenities provided exclusively or mainly for residents or inmates therein, or

(b) as part of the activities of, or for the benefit of, a club, society or other organisation which is not established or conducted for profit and whose main objects are charitable or are otherwise concerned with the advancement of religion, education or social welfare,

the act of causing it to be so heard shall not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the recording:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply—

(i) in the case of such premises as are mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection, if a special charge is made for admission to the part of the premises where the recording is to be heard ; or

(ii) in the case of such an organisation as is mentioned in paragraph (b) of this subsection, if a charge is made for admission to the place where the recording is to be heard, and any of the proceeds of the charge are applied otherwise than for the purposes of the organisation.

(8) For the purposes of this Act a sound recording shall be taken to be made at the time when the first record embodying the recording is produced, and the maker of a sound recording is the person who owns that record at the time when the recording is made.

(9) In this Act “sound recording ” means the aggregate of the sounds embodied in, and capable of being reproduced by means of, a record of any description, other than a sound-track associated with a cinematograph film; and " publication in relation to a sound recording, means the issue to the public of records embodying the recording or any part thereof.