"As copyright is one of the most popular forms of intellectual
property right in the business world, it is essential that
businesses know where it applies and how to make the most of it,"
said Lawrence Smith-Higgins, head of Awareness, Information and
Media at the Patent Office.
The warning comes as part of the "What is the Key?" campaign,
launched by the Patent Office, The Chartered Institute of Patent
Agents and the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys in June last year
in an effort to encourage business owners to manage their
intellectural property assets.
Copyright commonly protects music, drama, literary and artistic
works but also day-to-day creations in the business environment
such as PowerPoint presentations, advertising, diagrams, technical
drawings, company documents and brochures, reports, photographs,
software, websites and technical manuals.
There is no official registration system for copyright in this
country. It arises automatically once a work has been recorded in
some way.
For any material drafted or created in the business, copyright
protects the way the idea is expressed though not the idea itself.
For example, in a company business plan, it is the arrangement of
the words and images within that document that are protected by
copyright.
If an entrepreneur creates a work and then sells it on, he or
she will still retain moral rights and can object to it being used
in a detrimental way.
Businesses should also be aware that it is usually the creator
of the original work who owns the copyright unless this work was
produced under a normal contract of employment – ownership of
copyright therefore needs to be clarified when working with any
sub-contractors.
If a business suspects that someone has copied its work, it
needs to be able to prove that the infringer has seen it and
substantially copied it, not just lifted insignificant elements. It
also helps to show ownership of the work as a reminder to others.
Marking it with the copyright symbol ©, followed by the name and
year can highlight the company’s involvement. But omitting the
symbol does not mean that a work is unprotected or "public domain"
and open to copying.
Depending on what the company has created, copyright lasts for
different periods of time:
- For business documents, it is the lifetime of the particular
employee who drafted the material plus 70 years even though the
intellectual property rights belong to the company;
- For literary, musical, artistic and dramatic works it is the
author's lifetime plus 70 years;
- For films it is 70 years after the death of all of the
directors, composers, authors of the screenplay and
scriptwriters;
- For broadcast materials it is 50 years from the first
broadcast; and
- For publishing there is a publisher's right, covering elements
such as typographical layout, lasting for 25 years.
