'There is no longer room for the labour, skill and judgement standard Essay

'There is no longer room for the labour, skill and judgement standard as the originality criterion under UK copyright - Essay Example Emphasis is given on UK copyright law but reference is also made to the approaches used in other countries also, especially the Common law countries that share a common framework of principles and rules. A specific aspect of the UK copyright law is explored: the labour, skill and judgement standard, as related to the originality criterion of UK copyright law. At a first level, the following assumption can be made: the rules of UK in regard to this type of law are not extensive, at least taken into consideration the similar frameworks of other countries worldwide. Still, the applicability of these rules is carefully monitored because of the following reason: even if the labour, skill and judgement standard need to exist as elements of the UK copyright law, their potentials to survive in the global market cannot be secured. In addition, the content and the requirements of originality can be different in UK law, compared to other laws, even those incorporated in the same legal framework , such as the countries of the Common law. The literature and the case law developed in regard to this issue are used in order to show that labour, skill and judgement in copyright cannot secure the uniqueness of a work. It seems that such difference is justified using the different explanations of originality, as held in countries worldwide. Also, the potential inability of creators to understand the requirements of copyright law can lead to delays in the recognition of the uniqueness of a work as the result of the labour, skill and judgement of its creator. At this point, the following problem appears: should labour, skill and judgement continue to be used as standards for deciding the originality of works in the context of the UK copyright law? The above question is critically discussed below using relevant literature and case law, as appropriate, so that the credibility of the assumptions made is secured. It should be noted that the findings of the literature, as compared with t hose of case law seem to promote two different trends: in certain cases, the labour, skill and judgement standard is used as the sole criterion for evaluating originality while in other cases a trend for replacing, even partially, the above standard with other elements, mainly quantitative, has appeared. The particular contradiction is critically discussed above in order to evaluate whether the elimination of the standard would be feasible and whether the simultaneous use of other standards would help to improve the performance of UK copyright laws. 2. The â€Å"labour, skill and judgement† standard as the originality criterion under UK copyright 2.1 The originality criterion as related to copyright In order to understand the potential involvement of labour, skill and judgement standards on UK copyright law, it would be necessary to refer primarily to originality, as a criterion for awarding a property right in regard to a specific work. Originality, as related to the copyrig ht law sets the following condition: ‘the work must originate from its maker so that it can obtain protection’1. The concept of originality has been clearly described in the case University of London Press Ltd v University Tutorial Press Ltd (1916) where the originality of a work has been used for showing that ‘a work is originated by the author’2. In addition, it seems that originality, as explained above can have