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Copyright

What is Copyright?

When a person produces certain original works, as the creator they have certain rights relating to their reproduction. Copyright is the protection of the creator’s exclusive right to reproduce any or all of the work in question or to assign this right to another.

Knowledge of copyright legislation is very important for writers and publishers. For the latest updates on copyright legislation, including the Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC)-UK, see the related links on the right.

What is Covered?

Copyright covers: original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works; sound recordings, films, broadcasts or cable programmes; and the typographical arrangement of published editions.

What is not Covered?

Generally known facts, original ideas not produced as a physical original work, authors’ names, artists’ names, photographers’ names, film and book titles are not covered by copyright.

However, you would fall foul of the law if you tried to hoodwink the general public into buying a product that sounded like another product or seemed as if it has been produced by a famous person. For example, if you were a taxi driver who just happened to be called David Beckham and wrote and sold a book with a title along the lines of ‘Trials of a Footballer’ under the name David Beckham you would be probably be found guilty of the civil tort of ‘passing off’.

The criteria stated by Lord Diplock for the tort of passing off are:

a misrepresentation
made by a trader in the course of trade
to prospective customers of his or ultimate consumers of goods or services supplied by him
which is calculated to injure the business or goodwill of another trader, and
which causes actual damage to a business or goodwill of the trader by whom the action is brought.

How Long does Copyright Last?

Copyright lasts the duration of the author’s lifetime plus 70 years after the author’s death in EU countries for literary, artistic, musical and dramatic works. Computer programs are normally considered literary works. If the work is a joint one the duration is 70 years from the death of the longest living author.

Typographical arrangements have a copyright duration of 25 years from the end of the year in which the edition was originally published.

Certain other works have copyright lengths as follows:

unpublished literary, artistic, musical and dramatic works - protected by copyright until 31 December 2039
anonymous literary, artistic, musical and dramatic works - 70 years from year of publication
literary, artistic, musical and dramatic works published after the death of the author - until 31 December 2039 if in existence at 31 July 1989; 70 years after death of author for works produced on 1 August 1989 or later
crown copyright - 125 years from year of creation if unpublished commercially; 50 years from year of initial publication if published commercially within 75 years of creation
works printed by Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews and Aberdeen Universities and by Colleges of Eton, Westminster and Winchester and covered by copyright in perpetuity prior to the Copyright Act 1988 - protected until 31 December 2039
computer generated works - 50 years from the end of the creation year
sound recordings - 50 years after release
films - 70 years from the end of the death of the last dying of the principal director, author of the screenplay, dialogue author and composer of the music used in the film if, and only if, the composer made the music specifically for the film
broadcasts and cable programmes - 50 years from end of year of first transmission.

How do I Establish Copyright?

If you have produced a piece of work while under the employment of a company (eg if you are a staff writer on a magazine) you probably don’t hold the copyright. The employer is normally the copyright holder (except where contractually stated otherwise).

If you have produced an article, graphics or photographs as a freelance or independent creator/author, you do hold the copyright (except if you have signed this away as part of your contract with the publisher). Your copyright is established automatically as soon as you have produced the work, you do not have to register it anywhere in order to establish the copyright.

Can Copyright be Bought and Sold?

In essence, yes, copyright can be sold on to a publisher and constitutes the surrender of all such rights. For the publisher this is good news but the author had better think very carefully before taking this course of action.

Most professional authors and photographers prefer to license publication of their work to publishers. They will not get as much money in a lump sum, but they will get control of which rights are given to the publisher in the licence agreement. They can also retain the ability to prevent distortion of their original work.

Current Legislation and International Treaties

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ensures the following rights for an author/creator:

paternity - the right to be identified as the author in any copies of all or part of the original work, but only if they have asserted this right in print in their original work.
integrity - the right to preserve their work from unauthorised editing where the editing distorts the original sense or emphasis of the work. Author’s can argue the point that any editing is distortion so before editing an author’s work it is best to get their permission.
privacy - if a piece of art or photography is sold for private viewing then publication and public display are not permissible.
protection from false attribution - the right not to have someone else’s work falsely attributed to you as an author/creator.

Berne Convention and Universal Copyright Convention

The United Kingdom is a signatory of both the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention.

Under the Berne Convention (an international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation) more than one hundred nations (including all EU states, Russia, the US and China) have agreed to provide copyright protection to each other’s copyright works.

States grant to other member states the copyright protection afforded to their own citizens. Protection under the Berne Convention is the author’s life plus 50 years (except in EU states in cases, where the 70 year EU ruling applies). Paternity and integrity are protected under the Berne Convention. Equal protection is given to authors who are not citizens of a Berne member state but whose work is first published in a Berne member state. Special exemptions to the Berne Convenion apply to developing nations.

The Universal Copyright Convention is also a mutual signatory state copyright protection convention but is administered by the United Nations via UNESCO. It provides protection for the duration of the author’s life plus 25 years or in certain cases first publication plus 25 years. Copyright registration can be required by member states but the printing of the copyright symbol, the name of the copyright owner and the first date of publication if placed in a prominent enough place and in a prominent enough way to give ‘reasonable notice of claim of copyright’ will suffice as an alternative. Special exemptions apply to developing nations.

Copyright and the Internet

Publications are often produced in parallel in print and on the internet, a medium which transcends national boundaries. As an author you may be happy for your work to appear widely in one nation but not to have it published globally. If you are an author or photographer you must make sure that any licensing agreement covers reproduction of your original work for electronic versions. Similarly publishers must be careful to inform authors whether their work is to be re-issued, in whole or in part, in an internet edition or in another electronic format when entering into a licensing agreement.

Copy from printed publications is often edited down to shorter lengths for electronic versions because on-screen reading is more difficult and tiring than reading from printed copies. It is necessary for both publishers and authors to agree the extent of editing permissible.

(Written 16 August 2002. All statements are made with reference to UK law.)

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