About Crown Copyright

Crown copyright

Copyright material produced by employees of the Crown in the course of their duties is referred to as Crown copyright.  Therefore, most material originated by ministers and civil servants is protected by Crown copyright.

The Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office in her role as Queen’s Printer has been appointed by Her Majesty the Queen to manage all copyrights owned by the Crown on Her Majesty’s behalf.  The Information Policy team or the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) licenses on the Controller’s behalf.

More information on Crown copyright is available from the OPSI web site. 

Ordnance Survey mapping is protected by virtue of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Our mapping is protected for 50 years from the end of the year in which the map was published. For example, a map dated 1942 would have gone out of copyright on 31 December 1992.

Copying of our material can be authorised under separate copyright licences depending upon the use of the mapping.

Product names and trademarks we own

Our range of products is continuously developing and expanding. In addition to the introduction of new products, some products have recently been renamed and re-launched.

The consistent use of product names and acknowledgement of trademarks are essential elements in Ordnance Survey's product protection and promotion.

Our brand and product names as trademarks may only be used with our permission.

For up-to-date information,  see our Product names and trademarks leaflet (132 Kb PDF).

Our Intellectual Property policy

It is part of our remit to increase the use of Ordnance Survey data by exploiting Intellectual Property Rights in the data through trading. Our Intellectual Property (IP) includes Crown copyright, database right, and trademarks.

Definition of copyright terms

If you are unfamiliar with the language of copyright, discover what the terms we use mean in plain English.