Your guide to Copyrights!
As of late the term copyright has popped up a few times during projects.
I found some clients were infringing other peoples copyrights whilst some wanted to know more with regards to protecting their own future projects but overall there seems to be a lack of understanding with regards to what you can and can’t do, so….. Let me break it down.
Whether it’s a design, dance, patent, trademark or song, it’s classed under the title of intellectual property.
Definitions:
Intellectual = from the mind
Property = Ownership, the thing owned
It’s quite simple. Any original idea conceived from your thought process. It starts in your head and because of that you want the right to own it, that’s why it covers any idea.
Here’s where it gets a little trickier.
It’s an odd law, because there’s no official form of registering a copyright, it’s like a natural law and it magically comes into effect when you produce an original idea.
E.g. I’ve designed a new lawnmower. The moment my pen hits the paper, I automatically own the copyright as the author of the work.
There may be 10’s, 100’s or 1000’s of people designing lawnmowers but Copyright provides me with some basic initial protection to say that I designed this particular lawnmower at this stage.
Copyright is again quite simple in definition, “the right to copy work”. Naturally you have no right to copy someone else’s work without consent. The symbol itself works as a deterrent to warn possible thieves off but to be honest it’s not required. Whether there is a copyright symbol present or not, you do not have any rights to copy any work without consent.
Just because it may be publicly viewable it doesn’t mean you can just take it.
Usually a copyright establishes the author/owner of any work and their terms of usage. Consent may be given by the owner for free, by licensing or in a hundred and one different ways, it comes down to T’s & C’s but permission must be given.
Maybe you’ve designed something which looks quite truly unique. You could say that it’s the visual dynamics of something and you want to protect that design.
E.g. I’ve designed a lawn mower shaped like a flying saucer for the purpose of style.
It’s not a trademark or patent but it can be a registered design to make sure that no one else’s lawnmower looks the same.
A more familiar, stronger and detailed form of protection. A Patent is a way of registering a design/idea but one that is much more technical. It protects the process of a design or the way a design is built via its components.
Used by inventors it can establish the ownership and authorship of an original idea and again give that person the copyrights as to who can produce/sell it.
E.g. The flying saucer shaped lawnmower runs not on petrol, electricity or solar power but the actual grass it cuts.
The lawn mower’s visual design can be a registered design (explained above) but more importantly it’s the internal mechanism which turns grass into energy which should be patented. What’s more it may be a smaller mechanism inside of that mechanism that holds another patent.
It can get tricky but an easy way to think of it is – Protecting a technical idea.
A trademark is what most people think a copyright is.
Trade: Commerce
Mark: A distinguished sign
It’s an individual mark of ownership to distinguish itself from other companies and products. It is again a stronger and registered form of copyright which applies to logos and branding. It’s a way of protecting your company’s identity but at the same time showing a sign of quality/originality.
E.g. Grassergy Lawnmower Company TM
The Grassergy Lawnmower TM
– If it’s all so simple then why do disputes occur?
Disputes occur because it’s not so simple. I’ve explained the basics of the topic but disputes push the issue much further creating a twinned and tangled web of scenarios. It’s very specific to the individual case or industry its related to which may also bring in other forms of protection such as publishing, licensing and usage.
The best way to distinguish that an idea is yours, is to keep evidence.
Every good idea whether it’s a brainwave or not has to be researched and developed. These stages are imperative evidence as to how you created and finalized any idea, it’s the stepping stones of your work and could be worth more then the final idea itself.
Always keep all research and rough workings to show how you came up with and finalised that idea.
Who owns a photo: The photographer, The model or The company
Typically……
Models are paid for their services and a release form is used giving permission.
The photographer owns the photo as the author
The company hiring the photographer will have T’s & C’s to decide who does actually own the photos, them or the photographer.
With a twist……..
The model is an international celebrity and wants royalties on where the photo is used.
Who owns it now? Kind of like a joint ownership but T’s & C’s will establish that.
Generally…….
What if it’s a public model? Are you allowed to photograph people on the street? Is it not an invasion of privacy? If so who owns the photo now, the photographer or the innocent bystander?
The photographer owns the photo and has the right to take general photos of the public and public places as apart of the scene.
This is a generic scenario which changes according to each specific case. T’s & C’s usually explain all.
