The purpose of copyright is to allow creators to gain economic rewards for their efforts and so encourage future creativity and the development of new material which benefits us all. Copyright material is usually the result of creative skill and/or significant labour and/or investment, and without protection, it would often be very easy for others to exploit material without paying the creator.

Most uses of copyright material require permission from the copyright owner. However there are exceptions to copyright, so that some minor uses may not infringe copyright.

Unless stated otherwise on pages at the AFFINITIES site or on printed pages in documents that have been purchased or downloaded from the site, the copying or other reproduction of anything that does not constitute ‘minor use’ of the material is not authorised without the express permission of the copyright owner.

Copyright protection is automatic as soon as there is a record in any form of the material that has been created, and in the UK there is no official registration or form or fee. All the pages of the AFFINITIES web site are therefore automatically the copyright of the web site publishers or the owners of the copyright of the material being published.

Deliberate, intentional or wilful infringement of copyright on a commercial scale may be a criminal offence. So, if there is an infringement of copyright work available from the AFFINITIES site that is intentional, is on a large scale, and copies of it are being made for sale, we shall inform the Police or the local Trading Standards Department.

Requests for permission to copy any material not specifically authorised will be forwarded by AFFINITIES to the appropriate copyright owner. We reserve the right to charge a fee for this service. Address enquiries here.