Copyright

The history of copyright has existed since the early C18th, when privileges and monopolies were granted to publishers of books. Copyright law was reformulated in 1988 by the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, which has been until then governed by the Copyright Act 1956. The main amendment of the 1988 Act was that copyright lasts for 70 years after the originator has died.

The purpose of copyright is to protect products of skill, labour or time. Copyright was the reason that journalism flourished, seeing as journalism as a business could not survive without it. An originator can print, publish, perform, film, or record and literary, artistic or musical material and authorise others to do so. When you sell it you surrender all your rights to ownership of that intellectual property. However, undeveloped ideas, brief slogans and catchphrases are an exception to copyright laws, and are not protected. Getting copyright wrong could cost you money, embarrassment, or your reputation.

Breach of infringement of copyright is 'making beneficial use' or exploiting someone else's intellectual work without permission.

When a new film comes out a broadcast company can use the trailer footage for a time window of approx 3 weeks.

Many will know that all the papers normally have the same headline stories. Papers lift each others stories and have done for years. Rules of fair dealing allow stories to be lifted up to a point.

Fair Dealing

We can lift the thrust of stories and quotes from rivals for the purpose of 'reporting current events'. Anything lifted must be attributed, be in the public interest and the usage must be fair. Newspapers regularly have the same stories, however normal they each take a different angle on the story than their rival.

We can also use short clips (about 3 secs) for reviewing purposes, however this is not a definite rule in fair dealing. Recently, on WINOL, we interviewed Chesney Hawkes. We wanted to use a short clip from his music video for song 'The One and Only'. To do that without gaining copyright authority, we had to use to clip for purpose of review. This meant that the presenter was required to talk over the clip, commenting on it.
Broadcast news obituaries of film stars can use famous movie clips for free

Fair dealing allows for wider reporting of stories in public interest, and criticism and review of copyright material.

Photographers are unable to take advantage of fair dealing, as it does not apply to them.

Creative Commons

Although photographers or journalists cannot lift other peoples photographs through fair dealing, there is creative commons. Creative commons issues no charge for the use of pictures, however only insists that the original photographer and their website are credited with the publication of the photograph.

DANGER AREAS
The internet - youtube, facebook etc (use book)
Sports coverage - News access rights
Photographs and film archive

Points to remember
Recognise copyright issue early
Contacting rights holders takes time
Tell others if you have copyright cleared
Don't lift material without referencing up