"As copyright is one of the most popular forms of intellectual property right in the business world, it is essential that businesses know where it applies and how to make the most of it," said Lawrence Smith-Higgins, head of Awareness, Information and Media at the Patent Office.
The warning comes as part of the "What is the Key?" campaign, launched by the Patent Office, The Chartered Institute of Patent Agents and the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys in June last year in an effort to encourage business owners to manage their intellectural property assets.
Copyright commonly protects music, drama, literary and artistic works but also day-to-day creations in the business environment such as PowerPoint presentations, advertising, diagrams, technical drawings, company documents and brochures, reports, photographs, software, websites and technical manuals.
There is no official registration system for copyright in this country. It arises automatically once a work has been recorded in some way.
For any material drafted or created in the business, copyright protects the way the idea is expressed though not the idea itself. For example, in a company business plan, it is the arrangement of the words and images within that document that are protected by copyright.
If an entrepreneur creates a work and then sells it on, he or she will still retain moral rights and can object to it being used in a detrimental way.
Businesses should also be aware that it is usually the creator of the original work who owns the copyright unless this work was produced under a normal contract of employment – ownership of copyright therefore needs to be clarified when working with any sub-contractors.
If a business suspects that someone has copied its work, it needs to be able to prove that the infringer has seen it and substantially copied it, not just lifted insignificant elements. It also helps to show ownership of the work as a reminder to others. Marking it with the copyright symbol ©, followed by the name and year can highlight the company’s involvement. But omitting the symbol does not mean that a work is unprotected or "public domain" and open to copying.
Depending on what the company has created, copyright lasts for different periods of time:
