Copyright laws apply where some intellect has been used to create something – known as intellectual property. It is covered by Statute law in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This includes any skill, labour or creativity involved.
It is classed a breach or infringement of copyright if you are ‘making beneficial use’ of someone else’s work without permission. If you use their work to your advantage, for instance, making a profit at their expense, this is seen as exploitation.
What is protected and what is not
Protected: everything in the product of original work
Not Protected: undeveloped ideas, slogans and catchphrases.
Journalists are also covered by the copyright law – in fact it has helped journalism flourish. There is the idea within journalism that if you respect others copyright, then they will respect yours. The value of product is heightened by the exclusivity, and the respect of copyright ensures this.
The main reason for the media to care about copyright is because it can cost a lot of money. Like other media law blunders, it usually results in a large compensation and bad reputation.
Ways Round – ‘Fair Dealing’
Papers ‘lift’ stories from each other, but only up to a point. This may include quotes, but not the complete story.
‘Fair dealing’ can cover a journalist, where they lift the point of a story or the quotes. They must be attributed to the newspaper sourced from, and it must be in the public interest. The usage must be ‘fair’.
Copyright material can be used if it is for critical or review purposes. At the same time, broadcast news obituaries of film stars can use famous movie clips for free, but it has to be contemporary; a clip cannot be used weeks later.
IMPORTANT:
Photographs are never covered by fair dealing
In America, Brownmark Films has in the last week filed a suit against “South Park”, Comedy Central and Viacom. They have claimed that “South Park” has committed a copyright infringement in a parody of the Brownmark video ‘What What (In the Butt)’, in an episode dating back to 2008. The company has stated that the creators of “South Park” have wilfully, intentionally and purposefully disregarded the rights of Brownmark.
In defence, Comedy Central has said that their previous parodies have been covered by the ‘fair-use’ part of the Copyright Act and that courts recognise this. They are confident they will be fully protected in the current suit.
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