You did what!!!

You have to take into account not only your actions but those of others.

IPR - Intellectual Property Rights

Copyright

Passing off

Your work and ideas belong to you so you have to be careful not to give them away. There is a delicate balance between making sure you can sell by providing enough information but not give away how you make something.

A recent case has highlighted passing off in web sites when a company used a competitors name in the meta tags (what the internet uses for searches) to boost the uptake of visitors to their site.

Copyright infringement

Hey those are my images go take your own or give me the credit!!

Student presentation

Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988 

What is a photograph?

Section 4(1)(a) defines "artistic work" as, among other things "a graphic work, photograph, sculpture or collage, irrespective of artistic quality".

Section 4(2) says: "A photograph means a recording of light or other radiation on any medium on which an image is produced or from which an image is produced, and which is not part of a film".

"irrespective of artistic quality" is important, this was also in the Copyright Act 1956. A photograph can be appalling, out of focus, over or underexposed and have no artistic merit whatsoever, yet still be protected by copyright.

Duration of copyright

Expiry of copyright of a photograph

• 1956 50 years after first publication
• 1988 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies
• Europe Changes will lead to 75 years after author dies.

Employed photographers

"Where a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is made by an employee in the course of his employment, his employer is first owner of any copyright in the work subject to any agreement to the contrary".

There is no clause for reserving subsidiary rights as for press workers under the 1956 Act. This can be allowed for in an employee's contract.

For medical and technical photographers working for the government all photographs are ultimately Crown Copyright.

Commissioned photography

Copyright is held by the photographer and not by the person who commissioned the photograph.

Any agreement which alters this should be in writing.

Photographer has the right to use any pictures taken for other purposes allowing for the right to privacy where a photograph is taken for private or domestic purposes.

Section 85 ( 1 ) A person who for private or domestic purposes commissions the taking of a photograph or making of a film . . . has the right not to have

1. Copies issued to the public
2. Copies exhibited or shown to the public
3. Copies broadcast or included in cable programmes.

Ownership of negatives

Unless you charge for film and processing separately, which is inadvisable, you own the negatives and copyright.

Copyright protection

Prints or slides should bear the name and address of the photographer prefaced by the statement "Copyright of . . . " and the year in which the photography was created.

No legal necessity for the photograph to bear the International Copyright symbol (©), but there is no harm in using it.

Assignment of copyright

As copyright exists to protect the author, the copyright is his property and as such it can be sold or assigned in any way.

The rights can be bought or sold. The three main areas to consider for limiting any licence are:

1. The nature of the right e.g. film rights, publication or broadcasting etc.
2. Territory where rights apply e.g. Britain, Europe, USA, Commonwealth etc.
3. Period for which to operate.

So you could sell the rights for use in a book covering Great Britain only for t en years

Moral rights

This part of the 1988 Act gives the right to be identified, wherever the work is published commercially or exhibited in public or a visual image of it is broadcast, as the author of the work. This right should be asserted in writing.

Exception is where the photographer is employed and the photographs taken as part of employment; taken for reporting current events; published in a newspaper or magazine or in an encyclopaedia, dictionary or other work of collective reference.

Moral rights are not assignable. They can be bequeathed in a will, continues to 20 years after authors death.

There is also a moral right to object to derogatory treatment of work.

Section 80(2)b "The treatment of a work is derogatory if it amounts to distortion or mutilation of the work or is otherwise prejudicial to the honour or reputation of the author or director .

False attribution

Section 84 gives photographers the right not to have a work falsely attributed to them e.g. if a photograph is published or exhibited with the name of a photographer who did not take the picture given as author.

Breach of copyright

The mere copying of a photograph is what the Act describes as "an act restricted by copyright" unless the copier has permission of the copyright holder.

The legislation deals in detail with secondary infringement and infringing copies etc. Note you should go for the publisher as infringer ringer of copyright not the author of a book.

Exceptions include for;

Purpose of research or private study Purpose of criticism or review Educational purpose providing done by person giving or receiving instruction (Educational institutions usually licensed to be able to photocopy in this way) Purpose of parliamentary or judicial proceedings or proceedings of a Royal Commission or statutory inquiry.

Remedies for infringement

A copyright owner can take action against a breach of copyright. There are a number of remedies available under the law as for any other property right.

Section 97 allows for an instance where the infringer ringer had no reason to believe copyright subsisted in the work, no damages allowable, but redress is still possible in other ways.

Type of action depends on the degree of flagrancy of the breach and the benefit accrued from the breach.

Section 99 gives the copyright holder the right to order an offender to deliver up photographs that are in breach of copyright.

Section 114 provides for forfeiture and destruction of offending photographs, with the right of the court to consider the adequacy of other available rem remedies

There is also a criminal liability in the Act e.g. pirated copies of works.

Electronic communications (E-mails)

References

Cassell D. The photographer and the law. London: BFP Books, 1989.

Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988.

The British Photographers' Liaison Committee. The Photographers Guide to the 1988 Copyright Act. The Association of Photographers 1989.

Berkeley A. The right to copy. The Photographer 1989; 25 (7): 35 and 25(8): 14-15.

Rubinstein J. The moral right. Br J Photogr 1990; April 12th: 29 & 30.

Intellectual property http://www.dra.hmg.gb/html/doingbu/iprwhat.htm

Copyright Licensing Agency CLA http://www.cla.co.uk/

E-mail copyright? 

Recently we've had some questions about the copyright of messages sent to Mailbase lists, and this message should answer a few of the questions and correct some common misapprehensions.

A Summary -----------

1. Copyright law stops other people from using and abusing your original work.
2. E-mail messages are creative works and therefore copyrighted.
3. All your e-mail messages are copyrighted to you (or your employer)
4. You do not have to register this copyright - it exists automatically.
5. When you post to a public list you do not lose copyright, but your message may be:-
   • archived
   • forwarded to other lists
   • quoted by others
6. Messages sent to a list should not be:
   • -quoted out of context
   • -changed or reworded
   • misattributed

1. What is copyright?

If you are the author or maker of an original creative work, copyright law gives you the right to exclude others from using your work in certain ways. You should be able to control who makes copies, or creates a work derived from yours.

2. What can be copyrighted?

You can claim copyright on your own CREATIVE and ORIGINAL work once it exists in a written or otherwise tangible format. Anything you write whether in English or C++, will be a creative work, as will anything you photograph, or draw. E-mail messages, handwritten notes, books, computer programs and web pages are all creative works and they are all protected by copyright.

3. How do you register copyright?

Copyright exists automatically from the moment that a creative work is given tangible form - as in a web page or e-mail message. It does not need to be registered.

4. Who owns the copyright?

The first owner of the copyright is the author, except where the work is made by an employee in the course of their employment, in which case the employer is the first owner. So, if you are sending email in the course of your work, your employer may be the owner of the copyright on your email messages. But Mailbase does not own the copyright of messages sent to our lists, and nor does the list administrator.

5. Messages posted to public lists - Implied Licence (what is allowed)

Sending a message to a public discussion list has been compared to sending a letter to the editor of a newsletter. This would be regarded as intended for publication (an implied licence) unless there was clear evidence to the contrary.

When you send a message to a PUBLIC discussion list, you should be aware that:

• Other members of the list may keep a copy of the message,
• The message may be archived on a web site,
• The message may be forwarded to other interested parties,
• Parts of the message may be quoted in discussion.

This is implicitly allowed, reasonable use of a mailing list and to the benefit of all list members. It does not mean that you lose copyright.

6. Messages posted to public lists - Moral Rights

When you send a message to a public discussion list certain "moral rights" apply. Although your message may be widely disseminated, you have a right to expect the following:

• The message is not changed or reworded if forwarded. (Messages sent to a closed mailing list or to an individual should never be forwarded without the author's permission.)
• Your message is not quoted out of context. It is possible to quote, or misquote, part of a message in such a way that it misleads people and damages the reputation of the original sender.
• Attribution is given to the author. The name of the original sender should always be acknowledged.
• Any appended copyright notice is respected.

7. Some Further Information

Some information on UK copyright law is available from the Copyright Licensing Agency (http://www.cla.co.uk/)

10 Big Myths about copyright explained (http://www.clari.net/brad/copymyths.html) answers some common questions, with particular regard to USENET postings (US law)

Bronwen Reid, Mailbase, Computing Service, University of Newcastle, NE1 7RU Tel: (0191) 222-8214 E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Types of insurance

WARNING If you have a full-repairing lease for a property you are liable for all the repairs to the building after you take on the lease, whatever state it is in, so you will need to get a survey before signing! WARNING Can negate your home insurance if running a business from home without declaring it. Not allowed to trade from a council house without permission, similarly for other tenancy agreements.