What is Copyright?
Copyright is one of the four areas of intellectual property, and covers the expression of an idea. This means it covers a wide range of material, including writing, music, art and more. And while you might associate it with novels or classic songs, it’s equally applicable to technical reports or instruction manuals. And to fonts or design assets, as much as a famous painting or sculpture.
It’s an automatic right, and does not need any kind of registration. In UK law, copyright protection can last up to 70 years from a specific date, usually either the death of the creator, or first publication. And it’s usually assigned to the person who created the work, unless it’s signed over as part of an employment contract.
As an alternative to selling their copyright ownership, creators can also choose to licence their work for use by others.
How do people accidentally commit copyright infringement?
There are certain exceptions to UK copyright laws, including fair dealing for criticism, review and reporting current events, teaching, or parody. But the most common accidental copyright infringement tends to occur when someone uses images, audio, or long excerpts of text without permission.
The most common example is the use of photographs without an appropriate licence. It’s easy to right click and save a photo from most websites, or an image search. And then use it on your own site, or on your social media accounts. And in many cases, this infringes on the rights of the copyright owner, usually the photographer.
Another common pitfall is copyrighted footage or audio used in videos, which is often flagged automatically by sharing sites including Youtube. You may consciously be including a clip of a film for the purposes of a review, or there could be a song playing on a radio in the background of an interview which means it breaches copyright for that recording artist. In some cases, this can be exempt under ‘incidental inclusion’ but the copyright owner could take legal action to prove otherwise.
Where to find help if you're accused of copyright infringement
If you’re subject to a copyright claim then it’s important not to panic. Most issues can be resolved fairly quickly and effectively by working with the rights holder to reach a mutually-acceptable solution, whether that’s removing an image, adding attribution, or making a reasonable payment to licence it.
IPSE Membership includes legal helplines which can advise you on the best course of action. Other organisations which offer general advice include the Citizens Advice Bureau.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is responsible for copyright in the UK, and offers plenty of useful information, along with a mediation service to help resolve issues without the need to go to court.
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