Copyright gives the creators of “original works” exclusive rights to copy, publish, license and distribute those works (among other things). Copyright is very important to people from all walks of life including artists, authors and publishers, designers and architects, software developers, educators and trainers. This category features thoughts and information on copyright issues – particularly as they relate to businesses in Australia.
What are Moral Rights?
Moral rights are a set of rights given under the Copyright Act 1968 which recognise the special connection between creators and their works. They include the creator’s right to have their work attributed to them, and their right not to have the work treated in a derogatory way.
Copyright 101 – What is Copyright?
Copyright is relevant to almost anything of value that we write down or create. To take a few examples, it protects this web page, the manual for the computer that you are using, and (most likely) the software that is running on it. This post provides an introduction to the law of copyright by explaining a number of fundamental concepts in simple terms.
Copyright 10% rule
Reproducing or copying 10% or 20% of someone’s work may be OK for research or study purposes. Generally, however, there is no set rule or standard percentage that can be applied when figuring out whether infringement of copyright has taken place. It needs to be assessed on a case-by-case basis and is qualitative rather than quantitative.
Software – Not just the code
A few years ago, I met the owner of a start-up business who had a copyright story that stuck in my head. It always comes to mind when I draft Software Development Agreements on behalf of my own clients, and I hope that by reading this story, it saves you a bit of heartache as well.
Copyright dates – single year or range?
This post explains how to signify your copyright in particular works, and explains when you should identify a date range instead of a single year.