COPYRIGHT

Relevant law

Copyright designs and patterns Act 1988

Copyright designs and patterns Act

1988

What does the copyright designs and patterns Act say you can’t do?

You cannot reproduce substantial part of another person’s work

Breech of copyright can lead to

injunction, damages.

According to Section 1 of the Act copyright what forms does copyright subsist in ?

• original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works ( text/images)

• sound recordings, films and broadcasts

• typographical arrangement of published editions

Who owns copyright?

The ‘first owner’ is the author or joint author

The employer owns for copyright( stated in job contracts)

self employed and freelancers own first rights

What type of offence ?

unauthorised copying of all or ‘any substantial part’ of a work is a civil tort (occasionally a criminal offence)

Copyright exists in

the form,( quotes, interviews footage) it does not protect ideas

News stories

• Can be subject to copyright but not the facts within

• There is no copyright infringement in reporting a rewritten version of facts published by others

News - potential infringements

‘lifting’ verbatim phrases and quotes and large chunks of a story
shouldn’t lift more than necessary

Fair dealings defence

Copyright defence which covers copying for the purpose of reporting current events

Fair dealings allows

media to use some copyright material for current events /news purposes as long as its not excessive e.g: some quotes, and sentences
short clips from videos ( must be attributed)

Requirements of fair dealing defence

you don’t have to ask permission BUT copyright owner must be acknowledged

and material must be publicly available

There is no fair dealings defence for

Still photos
owner of copyright can sue over unauthorised use

must act permission from professional photographer and commissioner

Who owns the copyright of photographs?

• usually the copyright is owner by the person who took the photo

• if the photographer is self-employed they own the copyright

• if the photographer was employed by someone , they person owns the copyright

Moral right

Under the 1988 Act, grants a copyright claim to commissioner of a photo for private or domestic use

means a photographer AND commissioner could sue

CASE STUDY- ENGLAND & WALES CRICKET BOARD V FANATIX

Fanatix fair dealings defence failed after they published 8 second clips to their website and apps. Wasn’t quantatively substantial but Because they contained “interesting moments” they sufficiently amounted to a “substantial part” of copyright work.

Images from the internet and social media

Publishing images from sites such as google is a copyright infringement
Publishing content copied from a social media site can infringe on the copyright or site and or person who took the photo