Copyright Page Generator

Build your copyright page

Fill in what applies and delete what doesn’t. The page updates as you type, and nothing leaves your browser — there is no server involved and nothing is stored.

It is pre-filled with an example so you can see the shape. Type over it.

What each line is actually doing

The copyright notice (Copyright © year holder) is not what creates your copyright — that exists automatically from the moment the work is written, under section 11 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The line records who owns it and from when, which is what matters when someone has to check.

The moral rights line is the one that does real work. Section 77 gives you the right to be identified as the author, but section 78(1) says that right is not binding on anyone until it has been asserted. Printing the assertion on the copyright page is the ordinary way to do it. Leave the line out and the right exists but binds nobody.

“All rights reserved” has no legal force in the UK on its own — it survives from an old international convention. It is kept because it is understood, and because it makes the position obvious to a reader who is wondering.

The disclaimer is about defamation and negligent misstatement, not copyright. Fiction’s version distances real people from characters; non-fiction’s limits reliance on the content. Use one, never both.

The CIP line is a statement that the British Library holds a catalogue record. It is conventional in UK books and harmless to include.

The obligation this page does not discharge

A copyright page is not the same as legal deposit. Under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 you must send one copy of a UK-published book to the British Library within a month of publication, and five other libraries can each request a copy in writing. That duty applies whether or not you have an ISBN, and whether or not you sold a single copy.

It is the single most commonly missed obligation in UK self-publishing, and it costs nothing to comply with. Here is who to send what, and when.

If the book wasn’t only yours

If a cover designer, illustrator or ghostwriter worked on the book, the copyright in their contribution is theirs by default — section 11 gives it to the author of the work, and paying an invoice does not move it. Section 90(3) says an assignment of copyright is not effective unless it is in writing and signed by the person giving it up.

So the name on your copyright page may not match who actually owns the parts. That is the gap the contracts are for.

This tool and the notes above are general information about the law of England and Wales, not legal advice, and no solicitor has reviewed them. Every statutory claim names the section it comes from so you can check it. If a deal matters financially, take advice on it.