Copyright

Copyright
 “Most occasions on which the media will wish to
use copyright material do not pose problems,
either because the originator is only too happy
for his or her exudations to be publicised, or
because arrangements have been made to pay a
suitable royalty or licensing fee”
 Robertson and Nicol, 2008, P344

Legislation
 Copyright Act 1956
 Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988
 Copyright and Related Rights Regulations
2003
EU Copyright directive 2001
Digital Economy Act 2010

Copyright, Design & Patents Act 1988
 Copyright is a property right which subsists in
accordance with this Part in the following descriptions
of work
 (a)original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works,
 (b)sound recordings, films, broadcasts or cable
programmes, and
 c)the typographical arrangement of published editions

Copyright notice
 “The copyright in this recording is owned
by…. All rights reserved. Un-authorised
copying, reproduction, hiring, lending, public
performance and broadcasting prohibited”

Copyright
“A copyright is a kind of property. It can be owned and
sold, and the law protects against its theft. Ordinarily,
the copyright owner gets to hold out for any price he
wants”
Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture
Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral
and material interests resulting from any scientific,
literary or artistic production of which he is the author
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

What does copyright do?
 It protects the copyright owner’s work
 From un-authorised use or exploitation
 It ensures right holders have control over their work
 Through licences or agreements
 it protects the investment made to produce it
 And ensures a return for the investment

Principles of copyright
 Work is owned
 Is Original work which involved the expenditure of
“Skill, labour and judgement...capital”
 “The basic rights of copyright include: the right to copy
the work; the right to issue copies of it to the public; the
right to rent or lend copies to the public; the right to
perform the work in public; the right to communicate
the work to the public; the right to make an adaptation
of the work” (Smart, 2011, P288)

Copyright in music
 Mechanical
 The sound recording by THAT artist
 Exercised by a record company (or artist)
 Defined by ℗ for “phonogram” or sound recording
 Published
 © musical copyright
 The lyrics and music as written by the composers
 exercised by a publishing company

Frith and Marshall:
Music and Copyright, 2004, P6
 “If you buy a CD, then you own the physical
disc and the recordings of the musical works
on it. You can listen to the works, lend the
CD to your friends, write rude comments all
over the sleeve notes or use it as a frisbee.
You own the thing as a material, physical
object. You cannot, however, copy it because
you do not own the copyright”

Copyright bodies -
represent owners of recorded music…in the UK
 Performing Right Society (PRS) The lyrics
Composers and the
 Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) score
Performers & Record Labels
 Video Performance Ltd
Music videos
The
 Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS)
recording
owners of recordings, dubbing and storage

…Copyright
 “is an unregistered right and arises
automatically on the creation of material,
provided that the material is original and
that the work must be recorded in a
permanent form”
 Ursula Smart, Media & Entertainment Law, 2011, P322

Durations of copyright
 Literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works - typically 70
years from death
 Films – 70 years from the death of the last to survive of the
principal director, the authors of the screenplay and
dialogue, and the composer of any music specially created
for the film
 Sound recordings (inc music) and broadcast - 50 years
from broadcast/issue (inc .TV and youtube videos)
 Published editions - 25 years

Restricted Acts
 Copying, (even to your iPod)
 Lending, hiring or adapting without consent
 Using copyright work without the permission of the
owner without agreement or licence
 unless an exception applies

Permitted Acts
 Private and research study purposes.
 Performance, copies or lending for educational purposes.
 Criticism and news reporting.
 Incidental inclusion – in vision but not in music
 Copies and lending by librarians.
 Acts for the purposes of royal commissions, statutory enquiries,
judicial proceedings and parliamentary purposes.
 Recording of broadcasts for the purposes of listening to or viewing at a
more convenient time, this is known as time shifting.
 Producing a back up copy for personal use of a computer program.
 Playing sound recording for a non profit making organisation, club or
society

BBC Copyright: iPlayer

Exceptions to copyright restrictions
 ‘FAIR DEALING’ is allowed:
 But is not clearly defined in law
 Review or incidental (in UK/EU)
 ‘In theory, fair use means you need no permission… But
in practice, fair use functions very differently… effective
fair use for many types of creators is slight. The law has
the right aim; practice has defeated the law’
 Lessig, 2004, P91

Incidental Use
 Fair Dealing can apply if
 The extracts that are not substantial and if
 Material in background that is Incidental to the
programme
 Or is not intended such as news or live broadcasting
 For the purposes of review or in coverage of current
events
 But… it still could breach copyright!

Other Rights
 “Moral Rights” to control how our work is used
 Paternity Right – to be identified as ‘author’
 Integrity Right – to object to derogatory treatment
 Right against false attribution
 Over private photographs
 The rights of actors “UK law has determined that
anyone performs in a film has rights in their
performance” (Smart, P324)

Rights Clearance
 “For intellectual Property, the producer needs to
establish suitable rights of ownership in each
participant’s contribution – or a clear ‘chain of title’ as
it is commonly known”
 Baden-Powell, Bleakley, Eneberi: intellectual Property
and Media Law Companion, 2010
In other words…
Do you have the rights to use everything in the film or
programme?
Do you have permissions?
Have contributors waived rights where needed?

Your own work..
 Is under University
copyright
 But YOU must clear
everything in it, if you
want distribution
 You can share your own
work under CC

Exam
Thursday May 17th
1pm – CitySpace Hall.
CITY Campus