Copyright

Copyright is just one form of Intellectual Property. It differs, though, from all other types in that it is the one form of Intellectual Property that does not need to be registered. As copyright is not registered it is up to the owner of that copyright to protect himself and to instigate legal action in the civil courts if he believes copyright has been infringed. Generally speaking, any original work made by a person is eligible for copyright protection. Originality refers to the fact that the author must have created the work through the application of his or her own creativity and labour. A qualified person refers to any national or resident of South Africa or of a Berne Convention country.

Copyright, then, is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally "the right to copy" an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited duration. In order to be copyrighted, an idea has to have been put down in material form – that is to say the written word, a painting or a recording. An abstract idea cannot be copyrighted. Unless another party has commissioned the work, it remains the property of the creator, and no-one may print or use it without the owner’s permission. It is normally sufficient to place a © with a name and the year at the foot of the article. Copyright for written works remains the property of the owner for 50 years after his/her death, and computer programs for 50 years after they were first made known to the public.

Copyright may subsist in a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms or works. These include poems, theses, plays, and other literary works, movies, choreographic works (dances, ballets, etc.), musical compositions, audio recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, software, and radio and television broadcasts of live and other performances. It is important to note that mere ideas are not considered protectable by way of copyright. The author must have written down or recorded the creation in a material form for copyright to come into existence. Copyright is a special form of Intellectual Property. If you have any queries regarding the rights of a particular work you should get legal assistance.

Not everything that is written down by an author is necessarily owned by him, though. If, for example, someone is commissioned to write an article for a magazine, then, once published, the article becomes the property of the magazine. If only half of the article is published, then the half that is not published remains the property of the original author. Copyright is treated in the same way as other property. It can be licensed to a licensee for royalties. It is important to note that an assignment and an exclusive license (which precludes anyone else, including the author from using the creation) must be in writing and signed by the assignor to be valid. A non-exclusive license may be written or oral, or inferred from the conduct of the parties.