How much do you know about copyright infringement defenses?
Several Copyright Infringement Defenses People May Use To Protect Unlawful Use Of Protected Works
There
are several different ways of defending copyright infringement on your
valuable products or assets. It’s important to
look at each defense.
1 – Creation Of Temporary Copies
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Section 28A provides a defense
of creating temporary copies. The act decrees that copyright of a
copyrighted work (besides a computer game, broadcast or database) is
not impinge on when the temporary copy is made:
- Temporary use
- As a vitally important part of a technical process
- The copy’s purpose is to allow transmission of work in a network
between an intermediary and third parties or to permit legal use of the
work
- No real significance or economic benefit
This
defense comes from the Information Society Directive but the precise
scope is fuzzy and pretty much untested. There’s little case
law regarding this type of defense except for one known as the Infopaq
International A/S v. Danske Dagblades Forening Case. This case
explained that reproduction of a work is only temporary when its time
period is limited to what is just necessary and its eliminated once the
purpose is done.
2 Incidental Inclusion
This defense is related to the incidental inclusion of copyright
material of an artistic manner such as:
- Broadcast
- Film
- Sound recording
For instance, a TV crew is in the process of making a documentary and
somebody drives by with a song blaring loudly. This is known
as incidental inclusion. However, if during a filming of a movie, a
song is playing, this would not be considered an incidental inclusion
because the producer has total control over the track’s inclusion.
3 Works Of Unknown Authorship
Copyright of artistic work when the authorship is unknown is not
infringed when the author’s identity is not discovered through
reasonable investigations and it’s safe to assume the copyright has
either expired of the author died more than 70 years before the
beginning of the year the act occurred.
4 Use Of Spoken Words
When a recording is made of people speaking for the purpose to do a
report on current events, copyright infringement does not apply.
5 Recording For Broadcast Purposes
This defense covers broadcast recordings for the resolve for person to
view or listen to it at a more suitable time.
A Look At Designs
No copyright infringement occurs when a 3D article includes a design
unless the design in question is an imaginative work (s51(1) and
Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth [2009] EWCA Civ 1328). Also, if the
imaginative work has been technically produced, a third party may
generate 3D articles that feature the work, only if 25 years has
passed. Bear in mind that the two defenses will provide protection only
in cases against copyright conflict issue and doesn’t protect design
infringement that may be involved under the copyright
and design patent act.
If you are planning to prepare copyright protection on your own, make sure that you have written legal forms signed by you. Any signed document is legally binding, so consult with your own accountant or lawyer when in doubt. For easy downloadable forms, go online and search for legal forms for free and you should be able to find many general legal forms and documents such as trademark forms, patent forms