Copyright Aid

Hi Sally, The skill and creativity of software engineers is recognised in the fact that software is protected by copyright just like a work of literature. However once in the hands of the user, software is just a tool, much like the artist's paintbrush or the writer's pen (or word processor!). How y...

Hi Sally, No need to apologise - that's what the forums are for. You don't need to worry about the Prisma terms and conditions*. You can freely use that and other similar apps or programs to produce your own works which, generally speaking, will be protected by copyright and you will be the owner of...

Hi Ivan, Like the DLA Piper assignment document which I mentioned it's probably more detailed than you need. I am assuming that the logo has not been registered as a trade mark by any of the three parties. If that is correct then paragraph one can be reduced to the interpretation clause plus a singl...

Hi Ivan, If you google 'Deed of copyright assignment' you will find several examples, although none of them is ideal for your purposes. This is because these templates try to cover all the possible issues and often include clauses for other sorts of intellectual property rights. Perhaps one of the s...

Hi Ivan, Several things to unpick here, in order to avoid confusion. First of all, copyright in the logo will belong to the person who created it. From your question it sounds as if this person is the artist you worked with. Assuming he/she hasn't assigned away his/her rights to someone else, he/she...

Hi James, Yes I think you should be well within the fair dealing (rather than 'fair use' which is a US doctrine which uses different criteria not found in UK and EU law) exception for criticism and review. Unfortunately I can't guarantee you won't be challenged since that is down to the amount of co...

Hi Sally, Of course you already know that it's not the age of the language which is important, but the age and originality of the combination of words which determine whether copyright might apply to something like a motto. However, under normal circumstances just two or three words in a motto will ...

Hi Anthony Up until June 1957, the applicable law at the time these poetry books were published was the 1911 Copyright Act. While section 5(a) of that Act did make certain provisions about commissioned works which resulted in the ownership of the copyright passing to the person who commissioned the ...

Hi Sarah. Welcome to CopyrightAid. I can foresee problems with using the majority of the characters which you mention, such as Miffy. The only ones which should be free of copyright are the original Beatrix Potter illustrations, as Potter died in 1943, ie more than 70 years ago. However, you would n...

Hi Sally, Naval maps. Since the document was published by HMSO on behalf of the Admiralty, almost certainly Crown copyright will apply. Assuming that the work was published commercially (ie sold by HMSO), then copyright protection ceased to apply on 31 December 1993, that being 50 years since the en...

Hi Worried. I don't think I can add much to what was said in the previous thread which you referenced. If you haven't already done so, make sure you remove the disputed image from your blog as quickly as possible. While I wouldn't go so far as to say this was a scam, it certainly sounds like a money...

Hi shandmedia, Since we are talking about a style rather than (I'm assuming) any actual content which has been copied, I think you probably don't have a copyright claim. This is because the new publishers have only copied the idea behind the concept but not the actual expression (eg text or images) ...

Hi Sally, Perhaps my earlier reply was couched in terms which were too cautious. But really, you can be quite clear and deliberate in the way you express your interpretation of the words of the song without risking infringement. The song is an expression of an idea (reputedly based on a picture pain...

Hi GrandDuke I would like to think that Penguin Random House have retained the old records for all the companies they have acquired over the years, but equally I would be unsurprised to find out that they hadn't! And even if a copy of the publishing contract survives, it might probably reveal that t...

Hi Sandgr0under, I have very little musical knowledge and so I'm not going to get into too much detail. However I think your proposed venture is going to be risky right from the start if you don't get permission. This is because you are deliberately setting out to use those elements of other people'...