Copyright II Flashcards
Why Determine Authorship ?
The authorship determines who the owner of the copyright in the work is.
Who the author is, is important for several reasons:
- Calculate the duration of copyright in the work
- Identify who can legally form a contract over the copyright in the work (i.e. transfer the copyright to someone else)
- Identify the person who can claim moral rights; determining to whom we owe obligations based on moral rights
Authorship
Section 21 Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 – Authorship
In this Act, “author” means the person who creates a work and includes:
(a) in the case of a sound recording, the producer;
(b) in the case of a film (including the soundtrack accompanying the film), the producer and the principal director;
(c) in the case of a broadcast, the person making the broadcast or in the case of a broadcast which relays another broadcast by reception and immediate retransmission, without alteration, the person making that other broadcast;
(d) in the case of a cable programme, the person providing the cable programme service in which the programme is included;
(e) in the case of a typographical arrangement of a published edition, the publisher;
(f) in the case of a work which is computer-generated, the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken;
(g) in the case of an original database, the individual or group of individuals who made the database; and
(h) in the case of a photograph, the photographer.
Why Determine Ownership?
Ownership determines who, if not the author, holds the copyright in the work.
Who the owner is, is important for several reasons:
- Identify who is allowed to sue for breach of copyright
- Identify who can legally form a contract over the copyright in the work (i.e. re-transfer the rights to someone else)
- Identify the person to whom we need to ask for permission to use the work legally
Ownership
Section 23 Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 – Ownership
(1) The author of a work shall be the first owner of the copyright unless—
(a) the work is made by an employee in the course of employment, in which case the employer is the first owner of any copyright in the work, subject to any agreement to the contrary,
(b) the work is the subject of Government or Oireachtas copyright,
(c) the work is the subject of the copyright of a prescribed international organisation, or
(d) the copyright in the work is conferred on some other person by an enactment.
(2) Where a work, other than a computer program, is made by an author in the course of employment by the proprietor of a newspaper or periodical, the author may use the work for any purpose, other than for the purposes of making available that work to newspapers or periodicals, without infringing the copyright in the work.
Joint Authorship
Collaborative creative processes may give rise to joint-authorship or co-authorship. This happens where more than one person contributed to creating the work.
Joint-ownership and co-ownership will limit or determine who can form contracts over the copyright in the work and who can sue for infringement of copyright.
Joint Authorship
Section 22 Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 – Joint Authorship
(1) In this Act, “a work of joint authorship” means a work produced by the collaboration of two or more authors in which the contribution of each author is not distinct from that of the other author or authors.
(2) A film shall be treated as a work of joint authorship unless the producer and the principal director are the same person.
(3) A broadcast shall be treated as a work of joint authorship if more than one person makes the broadcast and the contribution of each person is not distinct from that of any of the others involved in making that broadcast.
(4) References in this Act to the author of a work shall, unless otherwise provided, be construed, in relation to a work of joint authorship, as references to all of the authors of the work.
Authorial works duration
Lifetime of the author + 70 years after his/her death
If several authors: lifetime of the last author alive + 70 years of the latter’s death
Media works duration
Duration for media works (including films):
Category by category rules on duration.
Example: for films it’s the lifetime of the director or the author of the screenplay or the dialog author or the composer of the soundtrack music + 70 years.
If none are known it’s 70 years from day of creation of first publication.
Sound recordings duration
50 years from the year of creation
HOWEVER…
…if the work is communicated to the public later within this period, it receives another 70 years starting from the point of creation.
Broadcasts & Typographical arrangements duration
Broadcasts = 50 years from year of transmission
Typographical arrangements = 25 years from the year of publication
