Copyright

Terms of Use

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• What is copyright?

  • As its name suggests, copyright prevents (very generally speaking) someone "copying" someone else's work.  The rights of the copyright owner actually prevent anyone "reproducing" their work - a right that includes reproducing the work other than in its general form.

• What are the strengths of copyright protection?

  • Copyright applies automatically in many countries and generally requires no action to register in order for copyright protection to apply.  Copyright is one of the longest lasting forms of copyright.

• What are the weaknesses of copyright?

  • Copyright does not protect an idea.  It only protects a way of expressing the idea.  For instance the ideas in a book about making a new device can be taken and expressed in a new way in another book without infringing copyright.

• What types of products can be copyrighted?

  • Copyright can, for example, be held in written works, music, movies, computer programs, artworks, photographs and designs.

• What exclusive rights does a copyright holder have?

  • The copyright holder has exclusive rights such as the right to sell, licence, reproduce, to adapt, to translate, perform.

• How long does copyright last?

  • In Australia, copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.  This long period of protection, for some products, may mean a long revenue stream and therefore a high present value.

• How can a creator benefit from copyright?

  • A creator of a copyright work can increase the benefits they receive from their creation by carefully controlling the licensing of the copyright in the work.  Rather than giving away all copyright for instance, a creator could only "licence" another part to certain rights of the copyright holder (for instance the right to publish a piece of literature - while retaining movie rights).  Achieving such control requires use of intellectual property contracts prepared by an experienced intellectual property lawyer.

• What is the difference between a patent and copyright protection?

  • Patents protect the function of an invention.  Copyright is concerned with the way something is expressed.  Copyright protects you against someone deliberately copying your work.  If someone by chance comes up with the same expression, it will not be protected by copyright.  For a patent, if the patent claims are infringed, it doesn't matter that they were not deliberately copied.

• Moral Rights

  • What are Moral Rights?

    • Moral rights are a special form of copyright that is exclusively held by the author of a work.

  • What Moral Rights does an author have?

    • Moral rights include three rights:  the right to be named as the author of a work; the right not to have the work falsely attributed to someone else; the right not to have the work treated in a derogatory fashion?

  • What are the implications of moral rights?

    • Because of the existence of moral rights, organisations dealing with copyright works have to consider how they deal with the moral rights of the authors.  Sometimes it will be necessary to obtain moral rights consents from the authors of the works.  At other times organisations will not want to vary moral rights held by authors.  In any case, it is generally inadvisable for the issue to be ignored.

• Copyright Links
  • Copyright at wikipedia
  • US Copyright Office
  • Copyright at UK Intellectual Property Office
  • Copyright at Australian Attorney-General's Department