Copyright and Multimedia Lee Jackson Learning Support Services x2276)

What is copyright? Copyright law restricts copying of: –books, journals, video, TV, film, music, DVD, software, databases, multimedia... anything that can be published The aim of making copying illegal is: –authors and publishers get paid for copies made or sold –works are attributed to the rightful person

Exercise discuss the questions in the Exercise agree on a YES/NO answer for each question

What is protected by Copyright? the ‘Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988’ protects: –(a) original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works –(b) sound recordings, films, broadcasts or cable programmes, and –(c) the typographical arrangement of published editions. and also includes: –databases, , software, web pages

What is not protected by Copyright? copyright does not protect ideas; you have to create a piece of work (book, film, script etc) that is somehow ‘fixed’ before you can claim copyright protection for it you can protect ideas for inventions by getting a patent (see and there is also separate legal protection for trademarks, (eg. company logos) and designs (‘the outward appearance of an article of manufacture’)

What actions are restricted by Copyright law? Copyright holders have ‘exclusive rights’: (a) to copy the work (b) to issue copies of the work to the public (c) to perform, show or play the work in public (d) to broadcast the work or include it in a cable programme service (e) to make an adaptation of the work or do any of the above in relation to an adaptation In other words, if you want to do any of the above, you must first ask the author or publisher and may have to pay for the privilege.

Who Owns the Copyright? the author/creator of any work tends to own the copyright unless:- –copyright is sold to someone else, such as a publisher –the work was produced under contract, such as for your employer (although this would depend on the contract - freelancers sometimes retain copyright) nb. copyright can be bought and sold, even bequeathed in a will

How do authors/publishers make money from copyright? an author assigns rights (eg. to copy a book) to a publisher and the author receives royalties from the publisher, proportionate to how well the work sells; different sets of rights can exist (hardback, paperback, film adaptation) and in different territories (eg. in USA, Far East etc) rights can also be assigned to a collecting society (eg. performance rights assigned to the Performing Rights Society) an author/publisher may sell work as a straightforward product (eg. like a book) or under a licence to reproduce the work under certain strict limits (eg. software with academic licence)

How long does Copyright last?  Literary, Dramatic, Musical or Artistic works - 70 years after the death of the author (or, if no-one knows who was the author, or a corporate publication, 70 years after publication)  Photographs (which are artistic works) are particularly complex due to successive pieces of legislation; if taken on or after 1st August 1989, the period of copyright is 70 years after the death of the photographer  Databases - database copyright, covering merely the database as a compilation of material, lasts for 15 years; however original material in the database retains its own literary copyright of 70 years after the death of the author, as does any computer software

 Films and Video - 70 years after the death of the last surviving author (director, author of screenplay, author of dialogue, composer of music)  Sound recordings, tv and cable programmes and computer- generated works - 50 years after date of release (or date made, if never released)  Crown Copyright - 50 years from year first published; 125 years if unpublished  Parliamentary Copyright - 50 years from year first published, with some exceptions  Published editions - 25 years for the typography of published editions  Previously unpublished work with an expired copyright - 25 years from publication

Do I always need permission, or are there exceptions? ‘fair dealing’ for private study, criticism or review, if not ‘substantial amount’ ‘timeshifting’ at home educational licences, such as CLA licence, NLA licence, ERA licence copyright waived material - eg. UK legislation from government sources ‘library privilege’ examinations non-reprographic copies (hand writing!) allowed in educational institutions academics can also copy sound, TV & film for instruction copying software for backup

What happens if I break the law (‘infringe copyright’)? civil prosecution (individual or company takes you to court) or criminal prosecution (the Crown Prosecution Service takes you to court (nb. only in cases of piracy/fraud) the result of a successful prosecution would normally be an injunction to prevent further copying, an order to give up any illegal copies and/or the awarding of damages, which will be proportionate to loss suffered by copyright holder

Electronic Copyright there is no difference between electronic and paper copyright, with the exception of: –backup of software is permitted –printing/downloading ‘insubstantial’ amounts from databases is permitted for private study also bear in mind –scanning documents is just as illegal as photocopying –web pages are copyright! is there a copyright notice? the law on web-related copyright (eg. appropriate use of hyperlinks) is not yet clear and you should not assume ‘its on the web, so I can copy it’... there may be an implied licence to cache and download pages, but certainly not mass reproduction of material for profit

Copyright and Multimedia Projects - copying other people copyright will exist for any material you include (eg. extracts from a book, film clips, sound recordings, music); if you are not the copyright holder, you will need separate permission for each item... negotiation skills are needed, since most producers of any commercial work will expect payment if it is copied can be difficult to find who owns copyright (eg. if a company goes bankrupt or the author dies) you may have to negotiate with publisher and author to ensure you are not infringing the moral rights of the latter

Copyright and Multimedia Projects - my copyright? if ‘contract of service’, the employer has copyright, unless your contract says otherwise if you work under a ‘contract for services’ (eg. a freelance writer for a specific job), the opposite holds true students are not employees, so a University has no right to copy their work, unless this is a condition of enrolment or a contract is signed teaching material produced by lecturers is copyright of the University, if part of their regular contracted work (or if stated in their contract of employment); other academic work may be their own but this is a grey area academic material published in journals or books generally is copyright of the publisher

Useful documents and web sites WEB SITES JISC/TLTP Copyright Guidelines Patent Office Government Copyright Site Visual Arts Data Service - Creating Digital Resources for the Visual Arts - Standards and Good Practice BOOKS ‘Buying and Clearing Rights’ R.McCracken, M.Gilbert; Routledge ISBN: