Originality in Copyright Law: the Court of Appeal's judgment in Sawkins v Hyperion

摘要

Lionel Sawkins v Hyperion Records Ltd presented the courts with the problem that the author's intention in creating a work (performing editions of baroque music) was, to the best of his (considerable) ability, to recreate the incomplete work of an earlier author. He set out to make a copy, albeit of something that did not exist (and perhaps never had existed). Was there sufficient originality for copyright to subsist? If so, had a substantial part been taken by the defendant? It is a question intimately tied up with that of originality, for there is only copyright in what is original, and it is a substantial part of that which must be taken for there to be an infringement. This article examines the decisions of the High Court and Court of Appeal as to whether Dr Sawkins was the author of an original work and whether the record company had been wrong in deciding not to pay royalties for the use of his work.