To understand what copyright infringement is, it is important to firsts start by understanding what is meant by the term copyright. In law, copyright is a term used to refer to one of the categories of Intellectual law protection. Its primary relevance is to protect an artist’s exclusive rights of ownership of an original artistic item to promote competitiveness and reward creators economically.
On the other hand, Copyright infringement is an Intellectual property dispute that arises when an individual uses an original work of someone without the consent, knowledge, or permission of the copyright holder. Some examples of copyright infringement are; Using a copyrighted image or videos on your website, recording an artistic work without the owner’s permission, downloading copyrighted works without paying for them, or Using copyrighted work to make a profit.
United Kingdom’s law on copyright infringement
Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 is a legislation in the United Kingdom that protects intellectual property works. This law gives the creators and owners of intellectual property the right to control how third parties may use their works. The Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 does the following;
Protects intellectual property-
The types of works protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 include; literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic works, published works, broadcasts, films, database, and sound recordings.
Defines when copyright occurs
Under this legislation, the copyright grounds are clearly defined. The law protects against copyright infringement, but it does not protect the idea from being copied; rather, it protects the reproduction of the original idea (How the idea is expressed).
Defines the copyright owner
The law defines who a rightful copyright holder is and a person who can make claims to a court.
Illustrates the duration in which copyright can last
Each type of work has a duration that its copyright lasts; for example, under this law, broadcasts and cable programs copyrights extend to 50 years from the end of the calendar year made.
Defines the restricted acts against Copyright
Restricted acts under this legislation include performing copyrighted works in public, copying an original work, giving copies to the public, or adapting an original work.
Examples of Copyright Infringement
Gucci Versus Guess
In 2009, Guess was sued by Gucci for infringing five of Gucci’s trademarks. Some of the distinctive marks that Guess used include; brown and beige colors mostly accompanied by diamond shape patterns, inverted GC pattern, and green and red stripe marked on handbags. Gucci won the case against Guess on copyright infringement.
A&M Records versus Napster
Napster was a well-known network for peer-to-peer file sharing. The network attracted a very large audience of music lovers who shared mps3s through the network. After two years, various record companies organized a joint lawsuit against Napster against copyright infringement. The record companies felt that their rights to decide how the music was being disseminated were undermined. They did not like how Napster used their intellectual property by sharing their music for free. During the ruling, the court ordered Napster to shut down its operations after paying a fine of $26 million for damages and publicly apologizing for the misconduct.
Effects of copyright infringement
There are several effects of copyright infringement, some of which are listed below;
Loss of finances
A company, individual, creator, or owner of intellectual property can incur significant losses if another party reproduces its product. When counterfeits are made, they compete with the original product for market hence bringing about competition for market. This makes the consumers to be torn in between the two products. Division in the market between the original product and the reproduced product leads to sharing the market, leading to the original owner of the content incurring huge financial setbacks.
Lack of motivation
To come up with content, one dedicates their time and energy towards making their content attractive, captivating, motivating, and unique in a sense that other people can appreciate it. When copyright infringement occurs, content creators feel discouraged and violated for someone else taking credit for their property; hence this leads to reduced motivation to develop or design other contents.
Degrading quality
Reproducing original material may lead to the depreciation of the value of the original product. In particular, counterfeit work can compromise the quality of the original work to make products that are substandard but affordable. This usually attracts many consumers to the counterfeit product but eventually leads to mistrust of the original piece, given that it is usually difficult for them to differentiate between the counterfeit piece and the original piece.
CopyrightCover
CopyrightCover is a secure copyright protection service equipped with the appropriate expertise and experience to protect our clients from facing risk factors and threats associated with copyright. At Copyright Cover, we are fast and reliable in safeguarding the rights of creative work owners. We protect all types of content ranging from logos, text, media, website materials, designs, and artwork. We also ensure that our clients’ public domains and social media services such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are protected from infringement.
We at CopyrightCover are dedicated to protecting the contents and products of an owner through registration. At our site, creative works are given individual reference numbers that are unique for easy identification. Nevertheless, registration is fast and efficient as CopyrightCover clients receive access to certification service that is instant. You can protect yourself from Copyright infringement by registering your work with us.
References
Giannino, M., 2017. The battle of the Gs: GC rules that use of the Guess logo does not infringe earlier Gucci marks. Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, pp. 12(4), 266-269.
legislation.gov.uk, 2011. legislation.gov.uk. [Online]
Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/contents
Winter, H., 2017. Chapter four. Will file sharing ruin the music industry? a&m records v. Napster (2001) and the economics of copyright protection. In Issues in Law and Economics. University of Chicago Press, pp. 46-58.
