Copyright begins when any of the work is actually created, even if you have not registered it. It is your right, as the creator of work, to put the copyright symbol next to your name, except when you have stolen work from someone else and are attempting to pass it off as your own. The individual normally owns copyright, unless the work is made in the course of employment, when it becomes owned by the employer. Copyright can also be allocated to another party, for instance a publisher.
The date you find on any copyrighted item is the date the work was created. If there are several dates within a copyrighted statement, it means that the work was created in one year and modified in another. It is not the date the copyright protection finishes.
The same copyright protection is used for electronic data, but several different copyrights are involved. Usually, to gain access to digital work, you need to obtain permission or sign a legal contract.
The types of work that are protected by copyright laws include song lyrics, books, plays, photos, computer programs, and emails among other things. You cannot, however, copyright things such as ideas, titles, names, facts, etc.
When the content of an electronic database is considered to be original, full copyright protection will be given for 70 years after the end of the year of the author’s death. Databases that are not considered to hold original data are given ‘database right’. Database right is protection of unfair extraction. This type of protection lasts for 15 years from the date that the database was first made, but can be renewed
indefinitely, unlike copyright. This can only be done if adequate investment (either monetary or time) has been proven to be made during the previous 15 years. Full copyright cannot be renewed in this way.
Some examples of copyrighted works on the internet include software, pictures and even email. Copyright of emails belong to the author and are therefore not allowed to be forwarded without the permission of that author.
There are also many things within the internet that are not copyrighted (or uncopyrighted). The official title for this is work that is in the “Public Domain”. Because they are in the public domain, they are free to use, by anyone, without prior consent of the author/creator. The same items you will find in the public domain are the items that cannot be copyrighted (for instance ideas, titles etc). The public domain will also hold all work that once had copyright protection, but has since lost it, although, today’s copyright laws make it virtually impossible to lose copyright protection. Bearing all this in mind, it is still possible for copyrighted work to enter the public domain if the author/creator/owner of the work gives permission.
When you access an internet site, they have copyright and database protection. However, it has been said that sites accessed without passwords or conditions could be argued to be implicitly allowing licence to copy. ( , 07/10/2003)
You can make a single copy of a literary work only if the copying of that work is only for the person who copied it and it is used for research or private study, for reporting current events or if it is being used for a review. In addition, you must not damage the rightful well-being of the owner of the work. This is called fair dealing.
Some people think that copying less than 10% of the original work is tolerable, but it is, in fact, not the length of the work copied that is important but the quality. For example, if the work that you copied were deleted from the work altogether how much would it have an effect on the worth of the work. If the work would be affected greatly, then it is deemed that the copying is extensive and is ‘not fair’. If, however, the work would not be affected very much, or at all, then the copying is ‘fair’.
Many people believe that uploading material from a CD that they own onto the internet is not in any way violating copyright laws, but this is not true. You might own the CD but the music still belongs to the person that created it. If you wanted to put their work on the internet, you must have their prior consent. It is up to the artist and copyright owner to decide how their music will be heard, distributed and promoted.
The copyright on sound recordings last for 50 years after the year they were created. Copyright becomes more complicated with movies. The copyright on a film expires 70 years after the death of the final person in the following list:
- Principle Director
- Author of the Screenplay
- Author of the Dialogue
- Composer of the music created for, and used in, the film
It is impossible to stop every person from copying or downloading copyrighted work, partly because it has been made very easy to do, but you should not think that just because something is on the internet that it gives you permission to make copies of it. If a piece of work is copyrighted and you copy it, you are breaching copyright laws.
There is, however, still ambiguity surrounding copyright of electronic resources, and policing these resources becomes more difficult as the World Wide Web opens up to more and more people.
The Internet merely makes policing copyright more difficult. It in no way destroys neither the right nor the existence of the right. To deal with the difficulties of policing copyright on the Internet copyright holders should look at new ways to use and exploit copyright such as copyright management systems, licensing regimes to make unauthorized copying unattractive and other methods.
(, 07/10/2003)
As of October 31st 2003, the United Kingdoms copyright laws make a number of significant changes. The most important change being the copying of documents for commercial purposes will no longer be allowed without paying a copyright fee (under the Library Privilege Copy Service.)
There are three main issues associated with the copying of electronic data. The first is that private copies will be made for personal use but that the fair deal will be ignored. Although, this is not in violation of copyright laws, as long as it does not affect the value of the work.
The second issue is probably the most serious cause for concern. This is that someone might try to profit from reselling articles. This is not so much a threat for scholarly journal articles, but is definitely a problem when people take movies, songs and books from the internet.
The third issue is the free distribution of copyright material. In most cases, it is an unintentional act, which does not result in the loss of any money to the creator of the original works. If, however, it is found to be a deliberate act, to make profit from someone else’s work then the courts will act on it.
