Copyright protection – we can help
Copyright is a strange concept: it can be created by almost anyone at almost any time; it can’t be registered; it can comprise music, words, a painting or a sketch; it can be bought and sold, used as security for a loan and it can also be licensed to create an income stream. For example, the 53 words that I typed up until the end of the last sentence comprise an original copyright work by me (although I doubt whether anyone would pay me an income stream for their use).
A common misconception about copyright is that it needs to be registered to exist (as is the case with registered trademarks and registered designs). Copyright does not need to be registered and in fact cannot be registered as there is no register to which application can be made. Copyright exists automatically in an original (ie not copied) work as soon as it leaves the mind of the creator and takes physical form. The addition of the © symbol, a name and a date to an original work is evidence of who created it and the date on which it existed. Failure to add that information is not fatal, it just makes it more difficult to show when the work was created and by whom; therefore if someone else copies your copyright work but you can’t show that your version existed first, you may have a fight on your hands.
In order to help, we at Morton Fraser can offer an escrow service under which we will date-stamp and store your copyright works. If there is ever a dispute as to when the copyright work was created, we can retrieve it from our safe and by checking the certified date-stamp we can confirm that the work in question existed at a particular date and was sent to us by a particular client.
Clearly a copyright claim could be defeated if another person claimed to have created the work first and had an earlier certified and date-stamped copy of the work, but our service provides good evidence of the identity of the creator and when they brought the work into existence.
So far we have provided this service to clients who have sent us song lyrics (in paper form) and music (on CD) but it could also be used for book manuscripts, photographs, paintings and indeed anything that can qualify for copyright protection under UK law.
The fine detail of the law of copyright is complex and we can advise on the law as it applies to your situation, but our escrow service can take away certain areas for dispute.
Please call Austin Flynn (0131 247 1260) or Samuel Price (0131 247 1139) if you would like to discuss copyright, or any aspect of intellectual property law.
© Morton Fraser 2012.
