Protecting Copyright.Licensing Legal Use.Delivering Royalties.

Who needs a licence?

• • Universities and other tertiary institutions
• • Schools
• • Government and other public sector bodies
• • Professionals and professional firms
• • Businesses, NGOs and other organisations

Schools & universities

Teachers and lecturers copy every day: course packs, past papers, extracts for a lesson. Much of that goes beyond what the law allows without permission. A URRO educational licence covers photocopying, scanning and controlled digital sharing of extracts across the whole institution, so staff can teach with confidence.

The fees for schools and universities are set out in the URRO Tariff Policy, which you can find under Resources.

What the law says: Section 14 of the Act permits works to be transcribed into Braille, sign language or other accessible formats for use by, or cross-border exchange for, people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled, other than for commercial use. The provision on use of a work in an online learning environment is part of that same exception for the benefit of those persons. URRO does not charge for these uses. Online and digital use of works for other learners requires a licence.

Government institutions

Ministries, departments, agencies and other public bodies copy published material for internal circulation, training and public information. A URRO licence makes that lawful. The annual fee is UGX 30,000 per employee. Official texts such as Acts and court decisions are not protected by copyright and need no licence.

Businesses & organisations

Law firms, audit firms, clinics, consultancies, companies and NGOs all copy and share published material for reference and training. A URRO licence covers it. The annual fee is UGX 30,000 per employee or professional user.

Licensing process

1. Contact URRO
2. Tell us your sector and headcount
3. We confirm the tariff and send you a quotation or invoice
4. Sign the licence agreement
5. Pay the fee, within thirty days of the invoice
6. Receive your licence
7. Copy responsibly and lawfully

Licensed institutions

These institutions hold a current URRO licence. They copy lawfully, and they pay the authors and publishers whose work they use.

List to be provided

Copyright & compliance

This information is provided for general education and is not legal advice. For advice on a specific situation, consult a qualified lawyer or contact URRO.

Understanding copyright

Copyright is the legal right of a creator to decide how their work is used and to be paid for it. It arises automatically, the moment a work is written down or otherwise fixed. Nobody has to apply for it.

The law protects novels, stories and poetry; plays and scripts; textbooks, histories, biographies and essays; encyclopedias, dictionaries and anthologies; articles and reports; and illustrations, photographs and maps. It does not protect ideas or facts, and it does not protect official texts such as Acts of Parliament and court decisions.

Copyright belongs first to the author. An author may assign or license it to a publisher. Either way, when a work is copied, the people who made and published it are entitled to benefit.

Reproduction rights

The reproduction right is the right to make copies of a work. It covers photocopying, printing and scanning, and it covers digital copying too: saving a file, uploading it to a learning platform, emailing it, or sharing it on a network.

This is the right URRO manages on behalf of authors and publishers. It is separate from other rights in the same work, such as the right to perform a play or broadcast a reading, which are not ours to license.

What the law says: The Act also provides for orphan works: works still in copyright whose author or owner cannot be found or identified, or is unknown. Anyone who wants to reproduce an orphan work must apply to the Minister for a licence and show that the author cannot be traced. A URRO licence does not cover orphan works.

Fair use / fair dealing

The law allows some copying without permission. You may quote from a work, use a short extract for criticism, review, news reporting, teaching or private study, and make accessible copies for people who cannot read print. These uses must be fair: limited in amount, properly acknowledged, and not a substitute for buying the work.

Once copying goes beyond that, for example copying a chapter for a whole class, you need a licence.

What the law says: Section 14 of the Act sets out the acts that do not need a licence. The 2026 amendment gives effect to the Marrakesh Treaty: works transcribed into Braille, sign language or another accessible format may be exchanged across borders or used by people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled, for non-commercial purposes. The provision on online learning environments forms part of that exception. Digital use for other learners and users requires a licence.

Copyright licensing

Buying a book gives you the book. It does not give you the right to copy it. A URRO licence does: it authorises your institution to photocopy, scan and share extracts from the works in our repertoire, within the limits written into the licence. One licence replaces thousands of individual permissions.

Copyright law

Copyright in Uganda is governed by the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act, Cap. 222, as amended by the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Act, 2026. The amendment was assented to on 29 April 2026 and took effect on 22 May 2026. Both are available under Resources.

The main changes in 2026 are these.

• • A five per cent limit on unlicensed reprographic copying
• • Contracts must be in writing and registered with the Registrar within sixty days
• • Rights assigned or licensed revert to the author after not more than twenty years, subject to the contract
• • A licensing route for orphan works, through the Minister
• • Legal protection for technological protection measures
• • A power for the Registrar or a copyright owner to have infringing content online blocked or taken down
• • Much heavier penalties for infringement
• • New rules for collecting societies, including an annual general meeting within three months after the end of each calendar year
• • International treaties given the force of law in Uganda, including the Berne Convention, the Marrakesh Treaty and the WIPO Copyright Treaty

Copyright FAQs

Compliance & enforcement

Every URRO licence makes clear that our copyright inspectors may monitor how works are used and whether the licence is being followed. We would rather help an institution get its copying right than catch it getting it wrong.

Outside licensed institutions, URRO copyright inspectors, supported by the Uganda Police Force, monitor the open market: bookshops, printers, warehouses and street sellers. The law gives an inspector power to enter premises at any reasonable time, to inspect works, packages and the equipment used to produce them, and to seize and detain anything reasonably believed to be an infringing copy. When an inspector seizes anything, the owner is notified in writing.

Our inspectors must show you their certificate of authority, issued by the Registrar of Copyright, before they enter. Ask to see it. Anyone who cannot produce one is not a URRO inspector.

What the law says: Copyright inspectors are appointed by the Registrar, who may authorise staff of a collecting society to act as inspectors. Obstructing an inspector is an offence, now punishable by a fine of up to two thousand five hundred currency points or up to ten years’ imprisonment. The main infringement offences carry the same maximum. Under section 49A, the Registrar or a copyright owner may require an online service provider to block or take down infringing content, and a provider that fails to comply commits an offence.