Copyright owner of a work
Generally, the author of the work (i.e. the person that creates the work) is the first copyright owner in that work. However, according to section 11 of the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528), the author of a work may differ from one category of works to another category. This is demonstrated by the following table:
| Category of work | Author of work |
| Literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works | The creator |
| Broadcasts | The person who makes the broadcast |
| Sound recordings | The producer |
| Films | The producer and the principal director |
| Typographical arrangements of published editions | The publisher |
| Cable programmes | The person who provides the cable programme service in which the programme is included |
Copyright ownership with more than one author
Some works often involve more than one author, so the rules of copyright ownership are different:
- Distinct authorship: If the work is a collaborative work that involves more than one author and the contributions of each author are distinct, each author will be the author of their part. Hence, each author owns the copyright in their own part.
- Joint authorship: If the work is a collaborative work that involves more than one author but the contributions of each author are not distinct, all the authors are collectively joint authors of the work. Hence, all the authors own the copyright collectively in equal shares. If one of the joint authors passes away, their share of the copyright will be passed onto their successors rather than the other joint authors.
Other types of copyright ownership
Besides sole authors and co-authors, you should also be aware of two other types of copyright ownership – employee works and commissioned works. Again, the relevant rules of copyright ownership are different:
- Employee works: If an employee creates works within their normal duties of employment, the copyright of those works will belong to the employer unless there is an agreement stating otherwise.
- Commissioned works: If a work is developed by an independent author on commission from other company or person, the ownership of the copyright will be determined by the agreement between the commissioning company or person and the independent author. Nevertheless, according to section 15(2) of the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528), even if the commissioning company or person is not the copyright owner, they will still enjoy two important rights:
- An exclusive licence to exploit the commissioned work for all the purposes that could have reasonably been contemplated by the company or person and the author; and
- The power to restrain any exploitation of the commissioned work for any purpose against which the company or person could take objection reasonably.
Key takeaways
- Generally, the author of the work is the first copyright owner in that work.
- However, the author of a work may differ from one category of works to another category.
- There are also different rules regulating copyright ownership for works involving more than one author, employee works and commissioned works.