Copyright Law

Copyright is a type of legal protection for people who express ideas in certain forms, for example writing, visual images, music and moving image. Usually the creator of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is the first owner of the copyright in it, but there are several exceptions. One important exception is that copyrights in works made during the course of employment are owned by the employer and not the employee. Works are only protected by copyright law if they are 'original' works. A copyright work will be considered original if it is the product of the creator's own intellectual effort and has not been copied from another person's work. However an original work could be a compilation of other works, eg in an original anthology or selection, where the permission of the copyright owners of those individual works compiled would be needed. The Copyright Act also protects sound recordings, films (which include pre-recorded television programs and videos), radio and television broadcasts and published editions of works. These categories of copyright material are collectively referred to as 'subject-matter other than works'. Copyright does not protect ideas or information as such but only the original expression of ideas or information. Copyright differs fundamentally from patents, trade marks and designs in this way. Copyright, therefore, does not prevent the use of the same idea or information. If two people independently create similar works based on the same idea or information, and neither is a copy of the other work, there is no issue of copyright infringement.