Part 7 - Copyright

Question 1

What is the source of most UK law on copyright?

Answer 1

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Question 2

Where does copyright subsist?

Answer 2

In:

• original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works
• sound recordings, films or broadcasts
• the typographical arrangement of published editions

Question 3

What can the copyright owner of a work decide?

Answer 3

Who can copy such works, and to what extent, and who can ‘communicate’ them to the public.

Question 4

Who owns copyright under the 1988 Act?

Answer 4

The ‘first owner’ of copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is the author as creator.

Question 5

Who is the ‘first owner’ in a:

1) literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, created by an employee in the course of his/her employment?
2) sound recording?
3) film made on/after 1 July 1994?
4) film made before 1 July 1994?
5) broadcast?
6) ‘typographical arrangement of a published edition’?
7) ‘computer generated work’?

Answer 5

1) employer
2) producer
3) joint producer and principal director
4) producer
5) person or organisation responsible for ‘making the broadcast’. Usually a broadcast company.
6) publisher
7) person or organisation undertaking ‘the arrangements necessary’ for the work’s creation.

Question 6

When does a staff journalist have copyright in an article?

Answer 6

When the employer agrees to this, usually in a contract.

Question 7

Do self-employed journalists have copyright?

Answer 7

Yes, over their own work - including freelances and commercial photographers.

Question 8

Explain copyright issues with regard to social media sites.

Answer 8

Use of photos, footage or other material from social media sites can breach copyright both in the site and/or the copyright held by the person who created the photo.

Question 9

Explain copyright with regard to photos of TV images and photos shown on TV.

Answer 9

A photo e.g. a screengrab of a TV or film image without permission can infringe copyright. Showing a photo on a TV programme without the copyright owner’s permission is also an infringement.

Question 10

When is copyright in force?

Answer 10

Automatically as soon as a work is created in any permanent form. It does not have to be registered.

Question 11

What does ‘original’ mean in copyright law?

Answer 11

That the work was originated by the creator(s) using some element of ‘skill, labour and judgement.’

Question 12

What are the copyright legalities surrounding ‘lifting stories’?

Answer 12

No copyright infringement in reporting a rewritten story based on facts broken by other news organisations.

Question 13

In copyright law, what is assignment and licensing?

Answer 13

Copyright owners can ‘assign’ copyright, wholly or in part, to another person or organisation, either temporarily or for the copyright’s duration. This transfers to that other party control over who can copy the work and to what extent. The owner can also ‘license’ another party to exploit the work in a particular deal or territory. An owner who licenses retains the copyright and so the overall control of the copying.

Question 14

How long does copyright last for:

1) a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work?
2) a work of computer-generated music or graphics?
3) a sound recording published or communicated to the public?
4) in a broadcast?

Answer 14

1) for the creator’s lifetime and a further 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which he/she dies.
2) 50 years from the end of the year in which it was made
3) 70 years from the end of the year in which it was communicated to the public
4) 50 years from the end of the year in which it was made

Question 15

What protects work by civil servants during their employment and how long does this last?

Answer 15

Crown copyright, can last up to 125 years.

Question 16

Explain the word ‘substantial’ with regard to copyright.

Answer 16

The issue of what is a ‘substantial’ part of a work may be decide on the ‘quality of the originality’ in what was copied, including the importance of the copied material in relation to the rest of the original work, rather than how much was copied.

Question 17

Outline copyright legalities regarding hyperlinks to direct a reader to another website.

Answer 17

Case law stats that copyright is not infringed by hyperlinking to direct a reader to another publisher’s material if this is freely available online and is not infringed by ‘framing’/’embedding’ another publisher’s material if this is freely available online.

Question 18

Outline the ‘moral right’ under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 in respect of a photograph commissioned for private and domestic purposes, and the legal remedy for it.

Answer 18

Section 85 of the Act gives a ‘moral right’ (privacy right) to people who commission photographs or films for ‘private and domestic purposes’.

• the right is that no copies of a photo or film commissioned for private and domestic purposes should be published, issued to or exhibited to the public without the commissioner’s agreement.
• commissioners have this right even if they do not own the copyright of that work, and the moral right means they can sue and recover damages from anyone who publishes such a photo or a film without their permission.
• a publisher who uses the photo or film in breach of copyright could also be sued by whoever owns the copyright, e.g. the photographer.

Question 19

What are the legal remedies for infringement of copyright?

Answer 19

• a copyright holder who discovers that someone plans to infringe that right can get an injunction to stop the infringement.
• if the infringement has happened, an injunction can ban any repetition. The copyright owner can sue the infringer for damages or for ‘an account of profits’ to claim any profit made from the infringement.
• the court can also order that all infringing copies of the work must be handed to the copyright owner or destroyed.

Question 20

List the defences to an action for breach of copyright.

Answer 20

• acquiescence
• fair dealing for the purpose of reporting current events
• fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review
• fair dealing for the use of quotation
• fair dealing for the purpose of caricature, parody or pastiche
• public interest

Question 21

In copyright law, what is the defence of acquiescence?

Answer 21

A copyright owner who does not complain for an extended period of time after becoming aware that a person or organisation has copied the work may be deemed by a judge to have implicitly agreed - or acquiesced - to the copying.

Question 22

What is the condition for the defence of fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review?

Answer 22

The work must already have been ‘made available to the public’ with the copyright owner’s consent. There must also be ‘fair dealing’ by those publishing it for criticism or review and an accompanying ‘sufficient acknowlegement’ of the work.

Question 23

What must there be for the defences of fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review OR fair dealing for the purpose of reporting current events to be successful?

Answer 23

There must be sufficient acknowledgement of the work and its author, and reproduction of the work must be no more than necessary for the permitted purposes.

Question 24

When does the defence of fair dealing for the purpose of reporting of current events NOT apply?

Answer 24

As regards the copying of a still photograph.

Question 25

In copyright law, which defences CAN apply to the publication of still photographs?

Answer 25

Fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review and the public interest defence. However, the public interest defence is narrowly construed in the case of copyright.

Question 26

What date did the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 take effect and what does this mean for copyright ownership?

Answer 26

It took effect from 1 August 1989. This means that copyright in a commissioned photograph taken before this date is owned by the commissioner. The photographer or his/her employer owns the copyright in a photo taken before this date which was not commissioned.

Question 27

When may breach of copyright be prosecuted as a criminal offence?

Answer 27

If there is a deliberate breach for gain in communication of work to the public.