Copyright
Copyright
What would you do if you discovered your work had been reproduced without your permission?
Have you ever walked in the front door of your home to discover you have been burgled? You feel violated and angry.
How dare someone come in and take your things?
It’s obvious when you have been burgled in your home, but it’s not so obvious when you have had your words, designs or pictures stolen.
Physically, nothing looks wrong, until, you are browsing the internet or reading a brochure and you stumble across your words or pictures. It means that someone has stolen your work, but what can you do about it?
What is copyright?
Copyright is: The exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material.
If you own the copyright on something, someone else cannot make a copy of it without your permission. Copyright usually originates with the creator of a work, but can be sold, traded, or inherited by others.
Copyright protects the expression of ideas and information in material form, e.g. written down, recorded as an image or sound. In Australia, copyright applies automatically as soon as something is written down or recorded.
Material does not have to be registered for copyright protection.
Australian Copyright Law
For copyright protection to be put in place, your work needs to be original (yours!) and it should be in a material form such as written down, recorded or on disk, it can’t be just floating around in your head.
While it is not necessary to place a copyright notice on your work, it is a good idea as it serves as a reminder to others that you have put in time, effort, skill and creativity to produce that piece of work.
An example of a copyright notice is; © Norwest Internet Group 2016
It Protects:
- Literary works – books, reports and website content
- Artistic works – paintings, drawings, photos and logos
- Music
- Dramatic works – scripts, screenplays and choreography
- Film; Sound recordings and Broadcast – TV & Radio
- Business Plans
- Architectural drawings
- Circuit layouts
- Published editions – layout & typography, cover design.
Items not protected by copyright
- Ideas
- Information – generally available
- Names, titles and slogans
Copyright
Who owns copyright?
The creator of the material is the first owner of copyright.
Copyright lasts for the life of the creator, plus 70 years.
The creator of the work may choose to assign or license copyright to someone else.
Copyright can also be left in your will to someone else.
Permission to use copyrighted work
- You need permission of the copyright owner if you wish to use all or any substantial part of work which is copyright. (With or without a copyright notice).
- A substantial part is an important, essential or distinctive part of the work. Remember everybody’s view on what is important, essential or distinctive varies.
- You need permission to reproduce or copy the work (some exceptions apply to research or personal use)
- You need permission to communicate that work to the public – in any way.
- You need permission to perform the work in public
- You need permission to adapt, publish, rent or re-broadcast