Copyright

Copyright is a type of intellectual property rights (IPR), but unlike all other forms of IPR, copyright is not something that the creator needs to register or declare. In the UK copyright protection automatically arises when an original work is fixed in a tangible medium or expression. Copyright does not protect ideas or facts. It only protects the manner in which an idea or fact is recorded, whether in writing, placed on your website or in any other tangible way.

Who owns the Copyright?

The general rule is that the author is the first owner of copyright in any literary, artistic, dramatic or musical work. The main exception is where such a work is made in the course of employment, in which case the employer owns the copyright.

Government departments and agencies commission a wide range of works by individuals and non-Crown organisations. Unless specific provision is made in the commissioning contract for the copyright in such commissioned works to be assigned or transferred to the Crown, the copyright will continue to rest with the author. Like physical property, it cannot usually be used without the owner’s permission.

Implications

Commissioning a work does not automatically confer copyright ownership. Indeed it does not even give the commissioning department an automatic right to reproduce or publish the work itself, unless such use is specifically agreed under the terms of the commissioning contract.

Any copyright owner is able to exercise full rights and control the ways in which the work may be exploited. This includes the right to publish, disseminate and copy. Only the copyright owner can transfer or sell (assign) or authorise (licence) its use.

Electronic rights

If you are commissioning material to publish electronically, eg on your website, it is advisable to own the copyright and you must have all world rights or alternatively specifically all digital rights.

Infringement of copyright

Anyone one who violates any of the ‘restricted acts’ of a copyright owner has infringed copyright law. Copyright owners have both civil and criminal remedies to protect their rights. They can recover damages from an infringement and obtain orders (injunctions) to prevent or restrain infringements.

In principle, anything, which is an infringement of copyright, if done in a non-electronic manner, or by non-electronic means, is also an infringement if done by electronic means. The electronic storage, retrieval, duplication, transmission and performance of a copyright-protection work are all potential infringements, however, transient they are. For example, such simple acts as the display of a work on a computer screen may involve infringing action.

Moral rights

Under UK law an author or creator (except an employee) of certain copyright material has additional rights:

* the right of paternity - an author’s right to be acknowledge as the author or creator,
* the right of integrity - not to have their work subject to derogatory treatment,
* the rights to privacy of photographs and films, and
* the right to object to their name being attributed to material they did not create.

Moral rights are not automatic, unlike copyright, they have to be asserted in writing by the author. However, they do transcend economic rights and can not be assigned. They can be waived in a commissioning contract.

Working in the electronic environment

In the absence of a copyright notice or statement to the contrary, it is recommended that web managers assume that all material (textural, graphical, audio and video) on the Internet is copyright. Be aware of statements that do permit use but place conditions on that use. The omission of a copyright notice does not imply that you have unrestricted us of the material.

In the e-environment it is extremely easy when down loading material to omit an author’s name or to cut and paste material in a manner that could be considered derogatory. It may be legal to do something from a copyright point-of-view but that action may well infringe Moral Rights. For example:

* Inserting a number of hyperlinks into the text to link to other relevant articles - the author may well consider such links as derogatory.
* Cutting and pasting in a short extract from a text or graphic may not infringe copyright or you have permission to make the copy. You could, however, be infringing Moral Rights by failing to acknowledge the author/creator or because the short extract may be considered derogatory.

There are several situations in which these rights do not apply:

* Computer programs.
* Where material is used in newspapers or magazines.

Reference works, such as, encyclopaedias and dictionaries.

Database right (sui generis)

The database right is very similar to copyright, for example, it is an automatic right and commences as soon as the material exists in a recorded form. There are some differences between database right and copyright:

* The terms of protection is for 15 years from making but, if published during this time, then the term is 15 years from publication.
* The activities that a right holder can control and which are, infringed, if undertaken without the right holder’s permission, are different. The rights concern control over the extraction and re-use of the content of the database.
* Activities that a user can undertake without the permission of the right holder that do not infringe the right does not, in particular, extend to fair dealing for the purpose of research or private study for a commercial purpose.

For copyright protection to apply to a database it must have originality in the selection or arrangement of the content.