The copyright starts from the time when the text of the bill is handed in to the House in which it is introduced.
However, copyright in a bill continues even if rejected by the House of Lords if, by virtue of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, it remains possible for it to be presented for royal assent in that session.
[4] The same principles apply in respect of bills introduced into the Scottish Parliament,[5] Northern Ireland Assembly[6] or the Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament,[7][8] from the point a bill is introduced until it is either given royal assent, or withdrawn or rejected.
In these cases, the copyright belongs to the corporate body of the respective legislature: the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission or the Senedd Commission.
[5][6][7][8] When a bill (of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, or one of the devolved legislatures) is given royal assent by the King, it becomes an act.
[10] This permits the copying, publication, distribution, transition, adaptation and commercial and non-commercial exploitation of some information to which Parliamentary copyright applies.
[10] There are additional (in some cases, non-copyright) restrictions that apply to some materials related to parliamentary affairs: Non-commercial use of content from parliamentlive.tv is permitted under the separate "Downloading and Sharing Terms and Conditions" of the Parliamentary Recording Unit.