‘Borrowing’ the work of others has become much easier as a result of advances in technology, in particular, the internet. Plagiarism has become rife over the internet but that is not to say that it is fine to copy the work of others.
Infringing someone else’s copyright can have serious consequences. It can result in civil proceedings being brought against the infringer or even criminal proceedings in some cases. In the future it is likely to be easier for copyright owners to track down infringers of their work and greater responsibilities are likely to be placed on internet service providers to tackle copyright infringement.
How can I avoid infringing the work of another?
In a nutshell you should always ensure that your work is original. Copyright infringement occurs where a “substantial” part of another person’s work is reproduced. Unfortunately there is no clear definition as to what amounts to “substantial” and in some cases the courts have said that the reproduction of only a few words can amount to copyright infringement. Copyright can also be infringed even where exact wording is not reproduced.
You should not assume that the fact that a piece of work is not marked “copyright” or with the symbol “©” means that it is not protected by copyright. Where a person creates original work such work is automatically protected by copyright and whilst many people choose to mark their work “copyright” or with the symbol “©” it is not necessary for them to do so.
If you want to use someone else’s material you should check whether you are allowed to. Quite often copyright owners are happy for their material to be reproduced for certain purposes and where this is the case a “copyright statement” may be found on their website explaining what is allowed and what is not.
You should not assume that you are entitled to reproduce work created by you. If you have agreed to transfer the copyright in your work to a client then, assuming that the transfer is valid from a legal point of view, you will not generally be entitled to reproduce the work.
What is allowed?
Ideas are not protected by copyright, although the form in which they are expressed is. However, distinguishing an idea from the expression of an idea is not always as easy as it may sound.
Copyright protection does not last for ever. In relation to ‘literary works’ (written material such as articles, books and newsletters) and ‘artistic works’ (such as drawings and photographs) copyright protection normally lasts for 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author of the work dies. For this reason very old pieces of work can generally be reproduced without infringing copyright.
It is generally permissible to reproduce material for non-commercial research or private study and criticism, review and the reporting of current events is allowed.
Copyright law is a complex area of law and it is always best to err on the side of caution by making sure that your work is original.
This article was written by Alex, a friendly freelance lawyer, writer and researcher whose work covers a wide range of areas of law. Before going freelance Alex spent over 10 years working for two of the country’s top law firms. To get in touch, email alexthefreelancer@yahoo.co.uk
