The essence of section 51(1) of the
copyright, designs and patents act 1988 (CDPA 1988) is that creating a three-dimensional article from a design document is not a
copyright infringement unless the corresponding three-dimensional article qualifies as an artistic work in itself, which would consequently be protected under CDPA 1988, s 4(1)(a).
CDPA 1988, s 51(1) reads:
‘…it is not an infringement of any copyright in a design document or
model recording or embodying a design for anything other than an artistic work or a typeface to make an article to the design or to copy an article made to the design.’
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