How to tackle copyright infringement as a freelancer

If you’re self-employed, there’s a good chance you want to earn a fair income from the results of your work. Copyright and intellectual property (IP) protection stops other individuals or companies from exploiting or infringing on what you’ve created.

Copyright is one area of IP, along with trademarks, patents, and more. It’s assigned automatically and for free when you create an original work and expression of an idea. Examples range from literature, music and artistic work to software, databases, or technical instruction manuals. And it also applies to logos, graphics and other unique assets produced specifically for your business.

Areas where copyright doesn’t apply can generally be summarised as news and facts, although there are some specific exemptions in countries around the world. And it’s also possible for someone to use copyrighted work without permission under ‘fair dealing’ if it’s in a review, for non-commercial research or incidentally included in a video. There’s no strict rule on word counts or other limits for fair dealing, so it really comes down to whether it’s deemed to be justifiable or excessive.

You don’t need to have your work published to receive copyright protection, although you will need to prove your right. This could be done by signing and dating work, which is then held by a solicitor.

The length of copyright protection will depend on the type of work you’ve created, for example 70 years after the death of an author, or from first publication. And if you choose to licence your work, you still retain the copyright.

• Written, dramatic, musical and artistic work: 70 years after the author’s death
• Sound and music recording: 70 years from when it’s first published
• Films: 70 years after the death of the director, screenplay author and composer
• Broadcasts: 50 years from when it’s first broadcast
• Layout of published editions of written, dramatic or musical works: 25 years from when it’s first published

More guidance and details are available from Gov.uk including unpublished works pre-1989, or the rules for specific types of creator, just as computer-generated art or co-authors.

This is important as you can use it to stop someone simply copying your work, and also receive financial compensation for any damages incurred. Or if someone has gone outside the terms of any licensing agreement you’ve offered.

When a copyright expires, work usually passes into the public domain. This means it can be used freely by anyone, but it’s important to note that some works may be granted a perpetual copyright, or given extensions or special exceptions.