Copyright is a right which arises automatically and gives the owner the right to prevent the copying of the work created.
Copyright covers a wide range of areas of both personal and commercial life. It reaches into the world of art as well as the IT sector. It applies equally to sculptures as it applies to architects work as it applies to the written word and the broadcast image. Basically it is a bundle of rights covering a wide area.
The legal definitions cover the following areas:
The areas they cover are very broad. For instance an artistic work covers the following areas:
You don’t. The rights arise automatically as long as your work fits the relevant test. So if you have, say, a literary work then Copyright will arise in the work as long as:
Well yes. The issue comes when you have to prove that you created the work in question and when you did it. You may have heard of people posting things to themselves. Well the reason they do that is so that they can have a postmark on the envelope, which gives a date. The alternatives are to create your own “design book” or database or deposit a copy of your work with a third party such as your solicitor or an organisation such as A©ID.
Click on our video link below to watch our video on copyright.
Speak to one of our copyright experts, Niall Head-Rapson or Kelly Hudson - email legal@mcdanielslaw.com or call +44 (0) 191 281 4000.
Director, Solicitor and Chartered Trade Mark Attorney
Kelly graduated from Northumbria University with a first class honours degree in Law. She joined McDaniels Law in 2008 as a Trainee Solicitor and remained with the firm following qualification. She is now a Director specialising in Intellectual Property.
kh@mcdanielslaw.com