RSS Feed

Related Articles

Related Categories

An introduction to copyright law

6th October 2014 Print
Copyright

Copyright law may not be the most exciting subject to talk about but in today’s digital age but it is fast becoming something that businesses and everyday people are hearing more about. In a world where you can listen to music and stream movies seamlessly over your internet connection, copyright infringements are commonplace.

Issues involving copyrighted material aren’t just reserved, however, for individual internet users. This Sky News story shows that even large corporations, such as Microsoft, aren’t able to skirt around copyright law.

But what exactly is copyright law and how can you ensure you don’t fall foul of it in the future? Hopefully our short introduction will provide you with all the basics…

Short history

In 1911, the Copyright Act made the concept of copyrighted materials statutory but its modern successor is now known as the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The law is designed to protect the intellectual rights of creators of dramatic, musical, literary, artistic works, broadcasts, sound recordings, films and typographical arrangement of published editions. The creators have the power to control the way in which their creations, or materials, may be used.

Often, the creator will have the right to be identified as ‘the author’ and any distortions of his/her work can be objected to. However, copyright law differs from country to country, with each having its own conventions and national laws. This post by legal services firm Lawbite is a great resource for testing your copyright law knowledge and provides even more useful information on the subject.

When do rights occur?

Copyright is not something that needs to be applied for but is instead automatically applicable whenever a ‘work’ is created. A ‘work’ is something that has been created exhibiting a degree of skill, judgement or labour and is regarded as original.

Furthermore, copyright law usually only covers the creation itself and not the idea behind it. For example, you could think up a great idea for a book but that wouldn’t be covered by copyright law until you actually write it.

Who’s the owner?

The owner of a piece of work is usually the person or collective who created it. However, work produced whilst working for a company will usually see the employer as the lawful owner and not the individual who created it.

In the case of work carried out by freelancers, the author is usually the person who created it, unless there is a specific contract for service in place beforehand.

Copyright duration

The Intellectual Property Office is the government body that is responsible for intellectual property rights in the United Kingdom and their website provides full details of copyright durations for all types of works.

However, the duration of copyright actually varies depending on the type of work. For example, the copyright for written, musical, artistic, theatrical and film works lasts for 70 years after the death of the creator. 

In the case of a totally joint copyright, the duration is calculated according to the date of death of the last surviving author – typically 70 years also.

More Photos - Click to Enlarge

Copyright