Copyright Clearance


Introduction

The Law of Copyright is a special branch of Intellectual Property Law which encompasses: copyright, patents and trademarks, law of confidence, design rights and passing off. As such it falls within the bounds of civil law.

Copyright is free and has few formalities. It is automatic upon a work being created. It protects works from being copied without prior permission but it is increasingly being extended to include adaptions, performances, broadcasting and dealing with the copies produced. It is very broad and encompasses "most things that have been recorded in some tangible form (for example, by writing or printing or storing the work on a magnetic disk)". Specific types of works protected by copyright law include:

Note that computer programs are protected as literary works.

Key to protecting innovation in computer hardware and software Generally, copyright endures 50 years after death of the author or the date when the work was made, depending on the type and nature of the work. Note that the author is defined by the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Section 9 as follows: "For films, sound recordings and computer-generated works, the author is the person who makes the arrangement necessary for the making or creation of the work."

Copyright restricts the following acts, according to The Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (section 16):

Exceptions are detailed in the 1988 Act in Sections 28 to 50. For instance, copyright is not infringed by 'fair dealing' with a work for purposes of research or private study or for criticism, review or new reporting or any of the other limited exceptions concerning, inter alia, educational and library use.

Section 21: "Recording of broadcast or cable programme for archival purposes...A recording of a broadcast or cable programme of a designated class or a copy of such a recording, may be made for the purpose of being placed in an archive maintained by a designated body without thereby infringing any right conferred by part II in relation to a performance or recording included in the broadcast or cable programme...In this paragraph "designated class" and "designated body" means a class or body designated for the purposes of section 75."

Moral Rights are described in Sections 77 - 89 of the 1988 Act. Initially introduced by Copyright Act in 1956 in a very minor way, moral rights have long been recognised in some European countries. They are independent and distinct from ownership of copyright and give the author of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work and the director of a film the right to:

One must consider performers' rights as a case of moral rights, and not necessarily copyright. Note that there is also a right to privacy with respect to photographs and films made for private and domestic purposes. These rights are designed to give the creator of the work, who may no longer be the owner of the copyright itself, a degree of control and recognition in respect of the work. (David I Bainbridge, Computers and the Law, Pitman, 1990)

Internationally, most countries are signatories of either the Berne Convention or the Universal Copyright Convention. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works was held in 1886. The text has been revised and the one that many countries now subscribe to is the 1971 Paris text. The treaty is now administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an international organization based in Geneva. the Universal Copyright Convention took place in 1952 and was revised in 1971. An author's rights are respected under Berne, as though the author were a national of a signatory country. For example, US authors are protected in Britain under British copyright law. The UCC is adminstered by UNESCo, a United Nations Industry. Under the UC Convention, copyright endures only 25 years after author's death; under the Berne convention, it is 50 years. In the majority of cases, Berne predominates over the UC Convention. (Bibliography 1993 Terry Carroll)

Practical examples

Note that, in the case of a television program, apart from clearing copyright with the program makers and broadcasters, contributors to the program have copyright over their contributions, thus to incorporate an extract from a television interview with someone will require copyright clearance from the television producers and from the person interviewed.

In the case of a photograph, the photographer owns the copyright over the negative. (What about printings in a book?). Roberts, J. (1995), p.69, gives the US example that an employer only owns the copyright of a photograph taken by a contract photographer if the contract says that the work is "work for hire". The photographer can negociate for a higher price if the employer is buying also the copyright of an image.

In the case of a quotation from printed source...

In the case of a quotation from an interview (not recorded)...

In the case of a sound recording...

Organisations concerned with copyright

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva.
MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) hammering out a deal with BIMA, CDi Association and ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association.
ALCS (Authors' Licensing & Collecting Society)
DACS (Design and Artists Copyright Society)

Bibliography

McCracken, R. (1994), "Intellectual Property Rights", in Davies, P. and Brailsford, T. (1994) New Frontiers of Learning. Guidelines for Multimedia Courseware Developers in Higher Education. Vol.1: Delivery, Production and Provision, University of Nottingham.
Bainbridge, D. (1990), Computers and the Law, Pitman
Bassett, C. (1994), "Rights Issues", MacUser: 11 November: 87-88.
Beachcroft Stanleys, Solicitors (1993) Intellectual Property Guidelines for the Teaching and Learning Technology Programme. Prepared at the request of HEFCE.
Bernstein, R. (1993), Copyrights in the New Age of Interactive Multimedia", IEEE Communications, December 1993: 60-63
Carroll, T. (1993) Frequently Asked Questions About Copyright (published on the Internet at rtfm.mit.edu {18.70.0.209}, in directory /pub/usenet/news.answers/Copyright-FAQ, files part1 - part6).
U.S. Copyright Office General Information Package 118 (general info on copyright) The Complete Guide to Computer Law and Specialist Legal Services, "Business & Technology Magazine, September 1994: 49-63.
Flint, M. (1990), A User's Guide to Copyright, Butterworth (3rd edition).
Henry, M. (19??), Publishing and Multimedia Law (isbn 0-406-03768-x).
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, HMSO.
Miller, A. and Davis, M. (1990), Intellectual Property in a Nutshell (West publishing, ISBN 0-314-75738-4)
Nimmer, D. (19??), Nimmer on Copyright, 5 vols. Patterson, L. and Lindberg, S. (1991), The Nature of Copyright. Joyce et alia (1991), Copyright Law, 2nd edn.. Fishman, S. (19??), The Copyright Handbook: How to Protect and Use Written Works, Nolo Press. Salone, M. (19??) How to Copyright Software, Nolo Press.
McIntosh, S. (1990), The Multimedia Producer's Legal Survival Guide (Multimedia Computing Corps., Campbell California).
Bunzel, M. and Morris, S. (1994), Multimedia Applications Development Using Indeo Video and DVI Technology (New York), pp.227-232, Ch 16: "Copyright and the Multimedia Producer".
Rees, J. (1993), "Legal and Copyright Issues", p.262 in Lees, D. (ed.), Museums and Interactive Multimedia. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the MDA and The Second International Conference on Hypermedia and Interactivity in Museums (ICHIM '93).
Steiner, C. (1993), "Multimedia Licensing Contracts: Uses and Rights", pp.263-269 in Lees, D. (ed.), Museums and Interactive Multimedia. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the MDA and The Second International Conference on Hypermedia and Interactivity in Museums (ICHIM '93).
Roberts, J. (1995), Previous Legal Decisions: What They Really Mean for You", pp.68,69 in Advanced Imaging, November