Why protect against copyright infringement?
Copyright is a right that arises automatically. On a daily basis, businesses are creating works and documentation that are subject to copyright. This includes manuals, marketing materials, textbooks, internet and website content, architectural plans, artwork, music, lyrics and software code.These works can represent considerable value that is unique to your business. Given the potential value of copyrighted material, it is important to protect your copyright from infringement, breaches and violation through effective dispute resolution techniques or, if necessary, copyright litigation.
What are the different types of copyright disputes?
A copyright infringement, breach or violation can arise in two ways:- a person (or even an employee), without your authority, reproduces or takes a substantial portion of a work that is the subject of your copyright
- an author considers that you have reproduced or taken a substantial portion of their work.
What types of rights are covered by copyright?
While there are many rights that comprise the Copyright Act 1968, these are essentially divided into ‘economic rights’ and ‘moral rights’.Economic rights
Economic rights can be bought, sold and licensed by the original owners of the copyright. This means that, under the Copyright Act, copyright owners have the exclusive right to do, or authorise the reproduction, adaptation, translation, performance, broadcast, publication or public communicating, or importation of the protected work.
Most copyright infringements concern these economic rights. For example, copying a substantial part of the source or object code from one computer software program into another is a breach of the copyright owner’s exclusive right to sell and reproduce features of their computer program that derive from that code. An ex-employee reproducing and publishing a substantial part of their ex-employer’s training manual without permission is a breach of copyright on their literary work.
Moral rights
Authors and creators of copyright work also have moral rights; these belong to the original creator and cannot be transferred to others. Moral rights include the right to:
- attribution as the work’s author whenever the work is published or reproduced, preventing any other person from falsely claiming that they are the author of the copyright work; and
- preventing their work from being subjected to derogatory treatment.
Most moral rights last for the duration of the copyright, although the author's right of integrity (i.e. the right to prevent derogatory treatment of a copyright work) lasts only for the author's lifetime.
How should I resolve a copyright infringement?
There are two options for resolving an infringement of your copyright, or a claim of infringement against you by another party.Copyright dispute resolution
While an aggressive copyright litigation strategy might be the best approach in some circumstances, often the preferable commercial outcome (particularly when defending a copyright infringement claim) is to use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods such as negotiation, mediation or conciliation to facilitate communication between the parties so a settlement to the dispute can be reached. ADR can be court-ordered or privately organised.
In all copyright infringement disputes, we consider whether ADR is a viable option, as dispute resolution will minimise costs and legal liability by avoiding a potential lawsuit. Copyright disputes and litigation can sometimes be an unwanted distraction from your day-to-day business.
Copyright litigation
While we will always facilitate settlement where appropriate, sometimes the adoption of an aggressive copyright litigation strategy is either unavoidable or a necessary business strategy. At the start of any litigation we provide you with a clear roadmap showing how a matter might unfold, with timeframes and costs associated with each of those stages. We keep you informed through regular updates as to the progress and costs of litigation.
Our copyright lawyers have litigated in various jurisdictions including the Federal Court. Our team of copyright lawyers has a wealth of intellectual property experience and will devise a strategy, tailored to your needs and the needs of your business.
How can Actuate IP assist?
Protecting your copyrights from misuse or infringements should be a serious commercial activity undertaken by your business. Actuate IP can assist you in establishing the most effective measures for protecting your copyrights.In the event that a copyright infringement occurs, Actuate IP’s copyright lawyers will manage the dispute and litigation process closely with you throughout so you are aware at all times of progress and costings, allowing you to make the appropriate decisions for your business at each stage of the litigation process.
Contact Actuate IP to learn more.