Copyright in the digital age

One of the most rapidly changing areas of IP is the law of copyright. A major driver is the Internet and this has required most countries to go back and rethink their approach and coverage.

For example, copyright legislation in many countries has recently been amended better to reflect trends in on-line transfer of media, entertainment and communication material, providing better coverage on the exclusive rights and penalties. This was seen when Napster was forced to restrict access to copyright material via their web site. As a guiding principle, once original work is created it is copyrighted and as a result is protected from copying or plagiarism. This work typically includes written material, artistic works, musical works, dramatic works, computer programs and compilations.

In recent years there has been significant co-operation and cross-fertilization between countries to provide greater consistency across the globe. For example, the International Treaty for the Protection of Literacy and Artistic Works (the Berne Convention) was established to require nations to recognize the moral rights of integrity and attribution in how copyright is protected within their own legal system. The Berne Convention has helped protect economic rights for both local and foreign owners . Given the Berne Convention, all things are copyrighted the moment they are written, recorded or produced, and no copyright notice is required. A similar agreement, the Madrid Convention, which aims to protect the international coverage of patents and trademarks, has also been established.

It is worth noting that there are some subtle variations between the rights of parties such as employees and freelancers. With regard to employees , if a work is made by them (rather than by a freelancer/ contractor who works for himself or herself) in the course of their employment and as part of the employee s usual duties , the first owner of the copyright will usually be the employer. For the freelancer or subcontractor, the situation is different. Generally the freelance creator is the first owner of copyright. The person who paid for the work to be made is generally able to use the work for the purposes for which it was created but may not be entitled to use the work for other purposes. Let us take the example of a freelancer who creates a training manual for a client. The freelancer is the owner, unless the contractual agreement specifies to the contrary.

When it comes to the Internet and copyright there are a number interesting comments worth making. Again check these observations with a local legal expert in your state or country. It is better to be safe than sorry.

• In regard to work on the Internet, unless a person places words like ˜I grant this to the public domain you must assume the work is copyrighted.

• Cases in the USA are increasingly proclaiming that once information is placed on the public part of the Internet it ceases to be confidential. Of course, if it got there by an unlawful disclosure that may be another matter.

• All e- mails you write are copyrighted. However, suing over an ordinary message would be unlikely to attract any commercial value. Unless the material is secret or has IP protection the law normally does little to protect people s rights. When it comes to IP law, computers do not make copies of information, only people do.

• Copyright does not stop you expressing your views on other people s work, only the ability to express the intent or exact wording of the original work and damage the commercial value of it. This helps safeguard the right of the creator to have some control over how their work is used.