Copyright & IP Policy — UKWaterPark.org — CDPA 1988 & e-Commerce Regs 2002

1. Our Copyright

The original editorial content of ukwaterpark.org/ — directory entries, visit guides, framework summaries, structural design choices, schema selections, the eight-step verification workflow, the operator-change discipline framework, and the manual-verification methodology — is protected by copyright under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988). Where we publish original tables, comparison grids and verified contact details, those compilations may also attract database right under the Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997. Subject to fair dealing (see section 2 below) and to the permitted-use clause of our Terms of Use, all rights reserved.

We do not claim copyright in facts — an address is not copyrightable; a phone number is not copyrightable; an opening-hours schedule is not copyrightable. We do claim copyright in the original editorial presentation, structure, prose, and the curated selection of which facts to publish together.

2. Fair Dealing Under CDPA 1988

Fair dealing with our content is permitted in the circumstances set out in the CDPA 1988, including:

When relying on a fair-dealing provision, attribute ukwaterpark.org/ and link to the source page where it is practicable to do so. We treat absence of attribution as a relevant factor when assessing whether use is fair.

3. Crown Copyright and the Open Government Licence v3.0

A great deal of the source material we summarise — Acts of Parliament, Statutory Instruments, HSE guidance documents (HSG179 “Managing health and safety in swimming pools”; HSG282 “Managing risk in play and leisure”), Information Commissioner’s Office guidance, Department for Business and Trade publications, gov.uk content — is Crown Copyright. We reproduce or summarise such material under the Open Government Licence v3.0, with attribution to the relevant department or body, in accordance with the licence terms published by The National Archives at nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3.

Where third parties wish to reuse Crown Copyright material that we have summarised, they should rely directly on the Open Government Licence v3.0 from the original source — not on our editorial summary, which is our own copyright work.

4. Trade Marks and Nominative Use

The site refers to many registered and unregistered marks belonging to UK regulators, industry bodies, leisure-trust operators and parent groups, including (without limitation):

• Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
• Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG)
• Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK), National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ)
• Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA)
• Swim England, Swimming Teachers’ Association (STA)
• British Standards Institution (BSI)
• Leisure-trust operators: Everyone Active, GLL, Places Leisure, SLM Active, Parkwood Leisure, Serco Leisure
• Parent groups: Merlin Entertainments, Bourne Leisure, Haven, Butlin's, Center Parcs UK, Parkdean Resorts
• Individual venue names
• Citizens Advice, Competition and Markets Authority, Advertising Standards Authority, Information Commissioner's Office

These marks are used nominatively — to identify the entity our editorial entry covers — under section 11(2) of the Trade Marks Act 1994, which permits use of indications concerning the kind, quality, intended purpose, value, geographical origin or other characteristics of goods or services, where the use is in accordance with honest practices in industrial or commercial matters. We do not use any third-party mark in a way that suggests endorsement, sponsorship or affiliation by the mark owner.

If a mark owner believes a specific use on the site falls outside section 11(2), email us with the page URL, the mark, and the basis of objection; we re-review and adjust where necessary.

5. Identifying Real People — Defamation Act 2013

Where the site identifies real people — for example, named senior managers of a leisure-trust operator, named directors of a parent-group leisure division — we work to factual accuracy and to the standards of the Defamation Act 2013, including:

• Section 1 Defamation Act 2013 — serious harm threshold: a statement is not defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant
• Section 2 Defamation Act 2013 — defence of truth
• Section 3 Defamation Act 2013 — defence of honest opinion (clearly indicated as opinion, with the basis indicated)
• Section 4 Defamation Act 2013 — publication on a matter of public interest, where the publisher reasonably believed publishing the statement was in the public interest
• Section 5 Defamation Act 2013 — operators of websites: a defence for hosting third-party content, subject to following the procedure in the Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013
• Section 6 Defamation Act 2013 — peer-reviewed statements in scientific or academic journals (where relevant to citations)
• Jameel v Dow Jones abuse-of-process jurisdiction — the court can strike out claims where the litigation game is not worth the candle

If you are identified on the site and believe a statement about you breaches the Defamation Act 2013, the procedure is the same as for copyright: email us with the page URL, the specific statement, and your basis. We review with editorial counsel where required.

6. Hosting Liability — Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002

For any third-party content on the site — for example, user-submitted corrections or comments — we rely on the limitations of liability set out in the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002, retained in UK law:

Our procedure for handling notices is set out in the next section. Where the content is alleged to be defamatory and posted by a third party, the additional procedure of section 5 Defamation Act 2013 and the Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013 applies.

7. Takedown Notice Procedure

To submit a takedown notice for content you believe infringes your rights or is unlawful, email info@ukwaterpark.org with the subject “Takedown notice”. Your notice must include:

1. Identification of the right. Copyright, trade mark, defamation, privacy (UK GDPR), or other.
2. Identification of the work or statement. Where you own the original (for copyright), or the alleged defamatory statement (for defamation).
3. Specific URL on ukwaterpark.org/ where the infringing material appears.
4. Your name, postal address, telephone, and email. If you are acting on behalf of a rightsholder, your authority to do so.
5. Statement of good faith that the material is being used without permission (copyright/trade mark) or that the specific words complained of are defamatory (defamation).
6. Statement of accuracy — that the information in the notice is accurate, and (for rights-holder notices) that you are the rightsholder or are authorised to act on the rightsholder’s behalf.
7. Signature (electronic acceptable).

We acknowledge receipt within 5 working days and, where the notice is well-founded, act expeditiously to remove or disable access under regulation 19 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002.

8. Counter-Notice Procedure

If we remove material that you (or a third party) believe was lawfully posted, the affected poster may submit a counter-notice within 14 days of removal, by email to info@ukwaterpark.org with the subject “Counter-notice”, including:

• Identification of the material that was removed and its prior URL
• Statement under penalty (good-faith belief) that the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification
• Contact details and consent to UK courts’ jurisdiction for any related dispute

On a valid counter-notice, we may restore the material unless the original notice-giver issues legal proceedings within a reasonable period.

9. Repeat Infringers

Repeat infringers — persons or accounts that are the subject of repeated, well-founded infringement notices — have access to participation features (e.g., the ability to submit corrections) restricted or withdrawn. We retain a record of valid notices for three years for this purpose, consistent with our retention schedule (see the Privacy Notice).

10. What We Cannot Do Via This Procedure

• We cannot remove your record from the HSE, PWTAG, RLSS UK, CIMSPA or any other regulator
• We cannot remove your record from a leisure-trust operator’s booking system or from a venue’s customer records
• We cannot remove your record from Companies House, the Charity Commission, OSCR or the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland
• We cannot remove your record from a local authority’s licensing register
• We cannot suppress search-engine results — that is between you and the relevant search engine, sometimes with reference to UK GDPR Article 17 (right to erasure) routed via the search engine’s removal request channel

11. Contact

For any copyright, trade-mark, defamation or hosting-liability question, email info@ukwaterpark.org with a clear subject line.