Copyright is a form of intellectual property that protects original work, be it a poem, song or piece of art. It automatically gives the creator of the work exclusive rights to the content, so it would be an infringement if someone was to steal this, and you could take legal action. It’s worth noting, however, that there is little you can do to prevent someone else creating his or her own work based on a similar idea, it has to be a substantial copy.
Patents and intellectual property
Protecting your idea is important to you. Making sure the law thinks so is important too. QualitySolicitors ensures your intellectual property is protected - your original ideas safeguarded as preciously as you created them.
Intellectual property law cares for intangible assets. Copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets are types of intellectual property. As are discoveries, inventions, words, phrases, symbols, and designs.
Whatever your situation, you want the assurance it is protected. After all, it is your idea. Making sure you understand what needs to be done to protect it is our responsibility. QualitySolicitors has the expertise and experience to explain copyright and patent law to you simply. We help you understand the process. If a problem occurs, we are on-hand to hold your hand.
Having QualitySolicitors on your side ensures that your idea has the very best legal guidance behind it. Contact us today and ask to talk to one of our intellectual property experts. That may just be the best idea you have today.
Five top tips on protecting your creative IP
Following recent news that US comedian Conan O’Brien has been sued for stealing a joke from Twitter and singer Katy Perry’s Met ball dress being the subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit; Michael Sandys, here's five top tips around how to protect your creative IP.
Unlike trade marks, designs and patents , there is no formal registration procedure for copyright - as long as your work is original and involves skill and effort and is recorded in a medium, it is automatically protected by copyright and a copyright notice placing the world on notice can be added ©.
It might sound obvious, but for a piece of creative work to be covered by copyright it must be the owner’s original work. You will need to be able to prove that by showing exactly when, how and where the content was created and recorded.
If you create an original piece of work it would be wise to document this with a date and time, in case it was ever disputed. Technology has made this much easier as you can now email content to yourself and electronic documents automatically record a time and date on them, which saves you a job.
In addition to recording your work, it’s wise to take steps to ensure it can’t easily be stolen or accessed. This can be done in a number of ways including adding an electronic signature and encryption code, or simply by adding a watermark to your work. You may then decide to license your work to a third party to derive an economic benefit but you will need to ensure that you have a license agreement in place which is robust enough.
For more in-depth advice, contact QualitySolicitors on 08082747557 or visit www.qualitysolicitors.com