COPYRIGHT

WHAT THE LAW SAYS  The law of Copyright protects “intellectual property” – the product of a person’s skill, creativity or labour.  It protects literary or artistic work – in sound, film, pictures books, etc. The work must have some originality - and effort must have gone into it.  There is no copyright in news, ideas or information – but there may be in the story itself – how it’s presented involves some skill and labour.  Copyright is owned by the contributor in material supplied to newspapers – but readers’ letters are assumed to have permission given.  Fixtures lists, TV listings, maps and drawings are protected

WHAT THE LAW SAYS  Speakers own the copyright to their spoken words as soon as they’re recorded – however Parliament and courts are exempt from this.  If a commercial photograph was taken before the Copyright Act 1988 came into force, the copyright will be owned by the person who commissioned it. After that date the copyright is owned by the photographer or his employer.  A person who commissions a photo for private or domestic use is protected by a “moral right” – the right not to have it issued to the public even if he/she doesn’t own the copyright.  So borrowing a wedding photo of somebody in the news could be a problem.  Downloading and publishing a photo from a social networking site could infringe the copyright of the person who took it – even though it would appear to be in the public domain.

DEFENCES TO COPYRIGHT  The defence of “fair dealing” means you can use a copyright work for reporting news and current affairs provided the work has been made public and you include an acknowledgement. This applies to written, audio or film but this does NOT include photographs – even though they are regularly “lifted” by newspapers.  Photos are only exempt if they’re used as part of a review or criticism.  The work must be available to the public to get the fair dealing defence and “no more than is necessary” should be used.

DEFENCES AND REMEDIES  There is also a “public interest” defence but it’s a grey area and would be useful only in very exceptional circumstances.  If the owner of a copyright has encouraged or allowed somebody else to make use of his/her work without complaint it could destroy a claim for infringement.  The owner of a copyright can obtain a High Court injunction to stop somebody infringing it, can seek damages and can get an order for the seizure of illegal copies. If there’s deliberate or reckless infringement, damages can be heavy.  Breach of copyright can be a criminal offence – but this is usually only used in matters of video piracy, etc.