10 copyright conundrums clarified

10 COPYRIGHT CONUNDRUMS CLARIFIED

A. Not entirely. If two people create the same thing independently of each other and without actually copying what the other person wrote or made (e.g. two people standing in exactly the same place taking a photograph), then both can claim copyright in what they created, even if they are identical.

A. Yes. A logo is an artistic work and a trademark may well be an artistic work and/or a literary work as well. It is possible for a trademark to go out of copyright but still be a trademark as trademarks can last forever.

A. The author - the person who wrote the letter, not the archive that holds the letter or the recipient of the letter.

A. No. They must be qualifying libraries (those that are publicly accessible, are the libraries of an educational establishment and is not owned by or part of a body which is conducted for profit).

A. Not under copyright law, but this is an area where particular care needs to be exercised. Although the person taking the photograph (or their employer if appropriate) owns the copyright, the use of that photograph may be restricted by other legal considerations...

...e.g using the image of a famous person to promote a product can lead to claims of loss of revenue because the celebrity would have made a charge for having their name used in this way, even if the copyright in the photograph is owned by the person using it.

A. No. Many items that will be copied using 3D will not be protected by copyright e.g. items of crockery such as mugs or DIY materials such as screws or tools. They are protected by either patent or design right, if protected at all, and making a single copy is not an infringement.

A. The speaker owns the copyright in what is said but there is no copyright in the material until it has been recorded. Once it has been recorded the speaker owns the copyright in what has been said, but the person making the recording owns the copyright in the sound recording as such.

A. Essentially it is the person who transmits the programme if that person has any responsibility for its contents

A. No. The exception for copying for private use it to copyright, not database right, and databases may not be copied for personal use. There are rules that enable some copying to take place but not on the same scale as private copying.

A. Yes. Anything that you create as an individual and put up on any of these sites, chatrooms or blogs is technically your property.

For more information and answers to 851 other copyright questions, see the fully up-to-date 6th edition of Copyright: Interpreting the law for libraries, archives and information services

Find out more information including a free sample chapter on the Facet Publishing website

Image credits

1. Flickr cc image: Folklore NullElf: burning copyright by Martin Fisch2. Flickr cc image: Monopoly Thimble by Rich Brooks3. Flickr cc image: Times Square, NYC by MK Feeney4. Flickr cc image: Letter from Francestown, New Hampshire (USA) to North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, February 1856 by John Atherton5. Flickr cc image: Copyright (Washington, DC) by takomabibelot6. Flickr cc image: Photographing the photographer by naixn7. Flickr cc image: 3D Printer at the Fab Lab by Keith Kissel8. Flickr cc image: Copyright graffiti by opensource.com9. Flickr cc image: Broadcast Tower by Steve Beger10. Flickr cc image: data.path Ryoji.Ikeda - 4 by r2hox11. Flickr cc image: Copyright Symbols by Mike Seyfang