Wolf Photography - What is Copyright

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Copyright

What is 'Copyright'?

Copyright is a property right. It comes into existence as soon as something is created, irrespective of the age of the creator (eg children creating paintings, photographs or creative written materials are all covered by copyright).

Copyright and Educational Establishment Guidelines

I have found some teachers and tutors to be misinformed about how Copyright applies to the educational world. If you work in an educational environment and think that it's ok to go and use copyrighted materials without the owner's permission, you are breaking the law. The following statement applies to all my work:

'©Copyright Villayat Sunkmanitu 2002 - 2015 and protected by UK & International Copyright Laws. No items may be saved, downloaded, copied, adapted or reproduced in any form without prior explicit written permission. All rights reserved. Moral rights asserted in all countries and under any acts that may require such assertion.'

Please feel free to adapt the statement for your own needs and ensure that it is on your website if you display Intellectual Property.

Painters copying photography

It was interesting to see how many painters (water colours oils etc) think that it's okay to paint an image from a photograph. If you do this you are breaching copyright. If you want to paint an image or part of an image from a photograph, you must seek the photographer's permission before doing so. If the photographer refuses to give you permission, you cannot paint her/his image.

What's covered by copyright?

Literary
song lyrics, manuscripts, manuals, computer programs, commercial documents, leaflets, newsletters & articles etc.

Dramatic
plays, dance, etc.

Musical
recordings and score.

Artistic
photography, painting, sculptures, architecture, technical drawings/diagrams, maps, logos.

Typographical arrangement of published editions
magazines, periodicals, etc.

Sound recording
may be recordings of other copyright works, e.g. musical and literary.

Films
broadcasts and cable programmes.

The Copyright (Computer Programs) Regulations 1992 extended the rules covering literary works to include computer programs.

Copyright occurs automatically as soon as a person (irrespective of age) creates something as defined above. In other words, if you're a young student of photography, art or music at school/college/university and you create something, YOU own the copyright for it. Your teachers don't have the right to use any of your work without your permission. The same goes for adults.

Copyright is owned by the individual or collective that created the piece of work. If you're a freelancer working for a client, the copyright still belongs to you but it can be transferred through a contract of service.

Copyright generally lasts for 70 years after the death of the creator or the last remaining member of the creative collective. For sound recordings and broadcasts it currently lasts 50 years.

To protect written works or photographs/illustrations use the '©Copyright ' followed by your name and the year the item was created.

Further information is avaialble on:

http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law

and http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/ukcs/docs/edupack.pdf

 


Copyright in other countries

Different countries operate different laws and protocols for dealing with copyright issues. All western European countries, Russia and the USA belong to the Berne Convention. Under this agreement, you do not have to mark your work in any way for automatic protection to apply.  However, it is sensible to mark your work with the international © symbol, followed by the name of the copyright owner and year in which the work was created.

The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement is a part of the World Trade Organisation and gives you another layer of protection from member countries.

 

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