Copyright Flashcards
Who owns copyright?
For many types of work the first owner of the copyright (the person who by default in law owns the copyright) is the creator/author
*if no other arrangement has been made
Who owns copyright for poems/books/songs/musical score/play?
Author
Who owns copyright of a photograph?
Photographer owns copyright of a photo he/she created
Who owns copyright of footage/audio recordings?
Person who shot the footage or operated the recording device
*unless done in making of a film/programme
What is Licensing?
Creator/author can licence other people/an organisation to copy the work, usually a limited, temporary permission to do this in a region/company (usually in a financial arrangement)
Creator/author has sold license to permit copies but still retains the copyright
Assigning Copyright
Creator/author can assign copyright to other people/an organisation in a permanent transfer of copyright. The creator/author no longer has control over copies made.
In UK law assignment only legal if made in writing (whereas licence can be verbal).
Who owns copyright in journalism?
Under current law: employers can own copyright of work produced by employees in the course of their employment UNLESS contract of employment gives the employee any personal copyright
What are the legal remedies for infringements of copyright?
If copyright owner realises that his/her work has been copied (i.e. published) without permission the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 means unless there is a defence it is illegal without copyright owner’s permission to publish a ‘substantial’ part of a work.
*Substantial as regards to text can be a single sentence or a headline if original enough. Probably not worth suing over a sentence but if freelance may be worth it if a feature has been copied/quotes ‘lifted’.
Civil Law Remedies
Copyright owner can:
- obtain an injunction (i.e. court order) from High Court/County court to restrain person/organisation from infringing copyright
- seek damages from whoever infringed copyright
- seek an order for possession of all infringing copies of the work
Criminal Law Remedies
A person guilty of infringement can be fined for the first conviction or jailed for further offences
Copyright issues when protecting journalistic text and layout
Copyright can exist in composite journalism products because of the skill, labour and judgement used to create them e.g. layout of a page/website or the editing of footage
No copyright in news or information itself. If publisher paraphrases text in a news article originally published by someone else - no copyright breach.
Copyright does exist in verbatim form in which news/information is expressed and in selection of news and arrangement of the material.
Copying from the internet
Just because material is on the internet and so is in the ‘public domain’ does not mean it can be legally copied/published without copyright owner’s permission
*could have been posted without copyright owner’s permission
Some online material is licensed for anyone to copy it if that use is ‘not for profit’ (a type of creative commons license).
Defences to alleged copyright breaches
FAIR DEALING DEFENCE 1
Defence of fair dealing for purpose of reporting current events
Requirements: material was used only to report current events AND media org published sufficient acknowledgement of work and its author AND media org did not publish more of material than was necessary for reporting current events
Allows limited, unauthorised ‘lifting’ of quotes/a few seconds of footage
*photographs specifically excluded
Defences to alleged copyright breaches
FAIR DEALING DEFENCE 2
Defence of fair dealing for purpose of critique or review
Requirements: material was used only for purpose of criticism or review AND media org published sufficient acknowledgement of work and its author AND media org did not publish more of material than was necessary for purpose of criticism and review
*work must have been ‘made available to public’ with copyright owner’s consent
Public interest defence to breaches of copyright
Defence that copying was in public interest. Courts will decide case by case and interpret it as a narrow defence. Court will consider if publication of words verbatim, or photos, or footage was really necessary to the news revelation in the public interest.
