Imagine you have
worked really hard and put your time and effort in to creating a painting, or a
piece of music, or an invention, and someone decides to use or distribute your
work without your permission, now that’s not right.
Copyright is a
legal right by law that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights
to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time. It is the right to
stop others copying or reproducing someone’s work.
The way in which a
copyright is obtained is frequently misunderstood. A copyright arises
automatically when an original piece of work is created which usually required
some skill or judgement. In the UK there is no need to register a copyright,
however, there is definite advantages to registration, including the ability to
sue for infringement.
Typically, the
duration of a copyright is the creator’s life and then varying according to the
work
usually 50 to 100
years after the author dies.
A copyright does
not cover ideas and information, only the form or manner in which they are
expressed. For example, a copyright to a Mickey Mouse cartoon restricts others
from making copies of the cartoon or creating work based on Disney’s
anthropomorphic mouse, but does not prohibit the creation of other works about
anthropomorphic mice in general. In simpler terms, it is the expression of the idea that is protected and not the idea
itself. People are allowed to borrow an idea and create something similar but they
cannot copy it.
Copyright may apply
to a wide range of creative, intellectual or artistic forms of work. These can
include, poems, plays, other literary work, motion pictures, choreography,
musical compositions, sound recordings, paintings, drawings, for example.
If you are a
creator of an original work it is up to you to make sure your work is not
subject to a copyright infringement and if you want to create something from an
idea it is your duty to make sure they are different enough to not be judged a
copy.
For more
information on copyright you can visit the Intellectual Property section of the
government website on https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/intellectual-property-office
