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Whisper Wiki

Copyright

Section titled “Copyright and volunteers”

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 states that material produced by employees belongs to their employer, but makes no mention of volunteers, so the copyright of their work remains with them, not their organisation. Volunteering England has come across occasional copyright disputes between charities and volunteers.

The assignment must be in writing (Copyright , Design and Patents Act 1988 s.90 (3)). Whisper should draw up forms asking volunteers to assign copyright to them. It would be advisable to make it clear that the assignment is intended to be a legal contract. One way is to pay a nominal amount – say £1 – for the assignment and refer to this in the document.

There are no statutory guidelines for licensing copyright. However, it makes sense for the agreement to set out:

  • The parties involved.
  • The work the licence covers.
  • The terms of the licence (how the work can be used).
  • The duration of the licence.
Section titled “Copyright in Uganda”

Uganda signed up to the TRIPS agreement in 1995 which includes international copyright protection and which in effect signed it up to the Berne Convention. There is no enforcement, for example copied DVDs are routinely sold in shops.

Under Ugandan copyright law (as under Chinese copyright law) news/current affairs reporting (in any medium) is not protected by copyright, so local news stories can be freely reused.

Copyright in Uganda should be actively registered.