Enforcing copyright abroad

Most countries of the world are members of one or more international agreements.  This means automatic protection in all member countries for works created in the United Kingdom (UK).

The most notable agreement is the Berne Convention, which the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) administers; others include the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC).

Copyright material created by UK nationals or residents and falling within the scope of one of these conventions is automatically protected in each member country of the convention by the national law of that country.

All the Western European countries, the United States of America (USA) and Russia offer automatic protection.  For a full list please see the WIPO or United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) websites.

In order to benefit from the UCC it is essential to mark your copyright work with the © symbol, followed by the name of the copyright owner and year of publication.  This is not essential under UK law but it is still advisable to mark your work in this way and take the other precautions suggested regarding copyright in the UK .