WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

What are Intellectual Property Rights and Who owns the writing?

Copyright enables the protection of an author's work, giving them (or the copyright owner) the exclusive right to reproduce, publish, adapt, broadcast, or perform (in the case of dramatic material) the work. Although copyright will not protect ideas, including plots and titles, the material form in which are ideas are expressed cannot be reproduced without the permission of the copyright owner.

Copyright has important legal and ethical issues for the publishing industry. Breaching copyright is a serious offence. Every person working in the publishing industry should understand how copyright works in their country, and its legal implications. Authors and illustrators should always ensure their work is original and, if they intend to use excerpts from other publications, they must seek written permission to do so from the original author. Publishers and editors should ensure their authors understand how copyright works and, if copyright problems arise (as they inevitably do), they must seek expert legal advice.

If there is no agreement that states otherwise, the author of an original work is considered the author of that work (although there are exceptions to this general rule). A publishers copyright may also extend to include the typography, layout and ‘look and feel’ of the work.

Copyrights can be sold, bequeathed, transferred or copyrighted works used with the owner’s permission.

Gaining Copyright
In most countries there are no forms to be filled out or fees to pay, as copyright protection is usually automatically granted upon the creation of an original work. However, you should be aware that Copyright administration varies from country to country. For example, in Australia, The Copyright Act of 1968 ensures that copyright protection is granted automatically from the time that a work is created, until 50 years after the author's death. During this period, the copyright can be passed to others and bequeathed in a will. After copyright protection expires, the literary work is open to the public domain for use. The public can then use the works in any manner they choose. Note: In countries such as the UK and Europe, copyright lasts 70 years.

Copyright Notice
Although you will often see copyright notices on literary works, it is not a requirement for protection in Australia or many other countries. However, it is certainly wise to put a copyright notice on your work to remind people that it is indeed protected by copyright. You can put the notice on your work yourself as there is no formal procedure. You can put a copyright notice on your work by by putting a copyright line on the copyright page of a book ie. the copyright symbol, the author's name and the first year of publication. For example © Rohan Hillier 1985

What Does Copyright Protect?
Copyright protection is provided to literary, musical, artistic and dramatic works, films, sound recordings, television and sound broadcasts, and published editions of works. It is important to understand that copyright does not protect ideas or information. It only protects the form of expression which must be borne of skill and labour and incorporate an essence of originality. For this reason, it is wise for publishers to suggest that authors keep copies of their work in various stages of development.

When someone produces written material in the course of their work as an employee, then the employer will usually own the copyright. However, if an employee produces written work which does not relate to their normal duties and is done in their own time, then they may own the copyright. When a publisher accepts an original manuscript from an author, then the author owns the copyright (unless they sign a contract assigning it).
However, if a publisher requests an author to write a book for them and pays them a contracted amount to do so, then the publisher may own the work depending on the contracted agreement. In cases such as this, it is important to ensure details of copyright ownership are written into such contract so there is no question as to who owns the literary work. If there is no contract, and the author is not an employee, then ownership may rest with the originator of the work.

Copyright can be a complex issue and it is always wise to contact a copyright lawyer to ensure you are protected and adhering to the specific laws of your country.

Adaptations
Adapting another work such as a play, into a novel is an infringement of copyright. Performing a literary work or broadcasting it is an infringement of copyright.

When Can a Work be Legally Copied?
Always check your country for specific laws first. But generally, a small part of a work can be copied for criticism and review purposes as long as the author and publisher are acknowledged. Works can also be copied for the purposes of private study and research and in the news for the purposes of reporting current events (with the exception of using photographs).

Multimedia
Many publishers now create CD’s, DVD’s and various other forms of electronic media. As this is still a regarded as a relatively new form of media as far as the law is concerned, there are still many privacy and copyright issues that are yet to be resolved in these areas. Authors and publishers should be aware that they may maintain copyright to parts of the multimedia item produced, but not necessarily all of it.

Publishing on the internet has created a vast amount of copyright infringement and web of problems.
Yet, it is a necessary way for works to be promoted in the modern world. Regardless of how easy it is to copy work from the internet, this practice is still regarded as copyright infringement. Authors and publishers have every right to protect their work and to contact offending parties and request they remove the copied works. When such requests are backed up with notices of legal action, it is likely to have the desired effect and reduce copyright infringement. However, this is an ongoing problem whenever works are published on the internet. Publishers can and do allocate staff, legal firms or contractors to search the internet, find copyright infringement instances, contact offending parties and threaten legal action.

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