As I publish my articles on to goarticles.com. I am continually reminded of intellectual property law. The majority of my articles havent yet received the number of views I wish for. Once they do one might ask the question what would happen if someone liked the articles so much they attempted to use my work as their own. This is where intellectual property law come in. It prevents people trying to copy your work and claiming it as their own. There are 4 separate types of intellectual property law which include:- Copyright; Licensing agreements; Trademarks and Patents. For the purposes of this blog I will be focusing my intention on the law of copyright.
Copyright ensures protection of your intellectual property and stops others from using your material without your permission. It gives the creators of a wide range of material economic rights enabling them to control use of their material in a number of ways, such as by making copies, issuing copies to the public, performing in public, broadcasting and use on-line. The material is usually the result of creative skill and/or significant labour and/or investment, and without protection, it would often be very easy for others to exploit material without paying the creator. If people use your material without permission, copyright gives you the right to take legal action against them and claim damages. This law provides you with a way to license and distribute your intellectual property commercially, opening up a useful source of income. The law on copyright mostly comes from the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Copyright enables creators to sell their copyright but re tain their moral rights; license their copyright for use by others but still retain the ownership and object if the work is distorted or mutilated.
The duration of copyright for books or films tends to last 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining creater of the work dies. However if the creater is unknown it will be from 70 years the work was created, although if it is made available to the public during that time, then the duration will be 70 years from the end of the year that the work was first made available. For sound recordings and broadcasts the duration will be 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was created, or, if the work is released within that time: 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first released.
Copyright protection is automatic as soon as there is a record in any form of the material that has been created, and there is no official registration or form or fee and arises whenever an individual or company creates a work. But creators can take certain steps to help prove that material is theirs.
When one copyrights their material rights get included. An example of such rights are that the creators of these rights can control the ways in which their material may be used. The rights cover; broadcast and public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public. In many cases, the creator will also have the right to be identified as the author and to object to distortions of his work.
To qualify, a work should be regarded as original, and exhibit a degree of labour. Interpretation is related to the independent creation rather than the idea behind the creation. For example, your idea for a book would not itself be protected, but the actual content of a book you write would be. In other words, someone else is still entitled to write their own book around the same idea, provided they do not directly copy or adapt yours to do so. Names, titles, short phrases and colours are not generally considered unique or substantial enough to be covered, but a creation, such as a logo, that combines these elements may be.
It is an offence to perform any of the following acts without the consent of the owner: copy the work. rent, lend or issue copies of the work to the public. perform, broadcast or show the work in public, adapt the work. The author of a work or a director of a film may also have certain moral rights: the right to be identified as the author and the tight to object to derogatory treatment.
Acts that are allowed which do not break copyright law include: any copying of the work for private and research study purposes; any performance, copies or lending for educational purposes; any criticism and news reporting, copies and lending by librarians; acts for the purposes of royal commissions, statutory enquiries, judicial proceedings and parliamentary purposes; recording of broadcasts for the purposes of listening to or viewing at a more convenient time etc.
So one will ask how do I copyright my material. In fact its ever so simply. If you input the copyright symbol (usually Alt + Ctrl + C in most word processor programs) along with the year of creation and your name or business name somewhere within the material, it will then be recognised as your property. For example if I was to it on this article I would write 2011 Everything Legal Ltd.
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