Intellectual Property Law Copyright

You have to put the question of copyright protection and other intellectual property rights in a practical context - there is no point in going to all the expense and trouble if it is unlikely that the work would have any value to someone else. It is also important to remember that protection will not give you copyright if you have copied someone else's material, however unwittingly, it is still copyright infringement - there is no innocence defense to copyright infringement.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to register the copyright and indeed there is no official public register but you can always register with the privately operated "UK Copyright Service" for a small fee: www.copyrightservice.co.uk (email: [email]information@copyrightservice.co.uk[/email]).

Clarifying Copyright Issues

Although as a general rule copyright is retained by the author or creator of the piece of work, what happens where the work is created by an employee in the course of his/her job or a client commission the work? In both cases, the issue of copyright ownership may become clouded.

Copyright in Material produced by Employees

In the case of an employee, certain terms are implied into the contract of employment but to avoid disputes later, it is vital that a contract of employment clearly sets out that copyright in all works produced by them will belong to the professional servicing employer - this leaves the employer free to commit to contracts with clients which may run beyond the period for which the employee is employed and without it there would be contractual chaos. An example would be where an employee of a computer software company prepares a program for a client of the employer - clearly, it would put the employer in an impossible position with the client if the employee left (or threatened to leave) and to take the copyright with him/her.

In the case of work commissioned by a client, usually the creator will retain copyright but trade practices may dictate that it is passed to the client. In order to avoid expensive disputes, the terms agreed with the client should expressly deal with this point.

If the terms state that copyright passes to the client, the client will then have the unrestricted right to reproduce the work. Copyright can be seen as a multi-layered cake that can be cut up and the pieces shared out. In other words, the copyright holder can retain copyright but allow (or "license") someone else to use the whole or part of the copyright. The whole cake can be licensed or specific parts (i.e. rights) can be licensed - the parts may be defined by reference to time, purpose and territory.

For example, a freelance graphic designer was asked to produce artwork for posters and fly sheets for a low-budget theater production at a small theater. He was asked to do the work on a reduced-fee basis to keep costs low. He was prepared to do so but was concerned that if the play transferred to the West End they would have had a real bargain that he felt was unfair to him. He was able to agree (putting the agreement in a short contract letter) that his client could only use the artwork for the productions whilst running at the smaller venue so that the client would have to negotiate for its use elsewhere. This meant that the designer could be given a more reasonable reward for his efforts if the play was successful. In fact, it was and transferred to the West End and the designer made money as a result.