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Digital Media and Intellectual Property
Whether playing a favourite tune on a digital jukebox or wiping
out an opponent's army on a tournament-based video game few stop
to think about the legal rights that they may be using to carry
out such activities, and indeed why should they? However those that
carry on business using digital media need to be alive to the intellectual
property rights that they may have or should seek.
If your business involves making digital content available to users
(whether for download or on a server) you are licensing intellectual
property. It is important to understand the legal rights that protect
that content. You will need to make sure that your business has
secured the rights required to use such content and that you have
placed appropriate conditions upon your users. Let's consider some
of the "headline" points to remember.
What are the Main Intellectual Property Rights
Relevant to Digital Media?
Copyright
Across the EU copyright protects, amongst other things:
- literary, musical and artistic works;
- film, sound recordings; and
- computer software.
Copyright does not protect ideas or concepts, but rather the expression
of them. A work is protected automatically by copyright from the
date it is first written down or recorded in some way, but must
have originated from the creator's skill and effort. There is no
need to register copyright, unlike some other forms of intellectual
property rights.
Copyright gives its owner the ability to control the work. So if
you are using computer code, graphics, music and text in digital
media in your business you need to consider whether you have the
right to use that work. It will be clear that you have that right
if you are the owner of the intellectual property rights in the
work. If you are not the owner, you need a licence to use the work.
Often people mistakenly assume that if they have paid for a work
to be created that they own the work. If you have copyright works
developed for you by a third party you should require them to assign
the rights in the work to you.
Databases
Databases can be a valuable asset in a business, just
think about the database of users on an online gaming platform.
The law grants an intellectual property right to the creators of
databases which are collections of independent works, data or other
materials, arranged in a systematic or methodical way. The creation
of the database must also have required a substantial investment
in obtaining, verifying and presenting the contents to attract legal
protection in its own right.
Patents
While copyright protects the expression of an idea, a
patent gives its owner the power to control the use of the idea
itself. In order to obtain a patent an invention must be novel and
inventive. Patents must be applied for and registered, in the main.
Patenting computer programs can be done in certain circumstances,
but it is a complex area.
Trade Marks
A trade mark is any mark used to distinguish the goods or services
of one business from those of its competitors. Trade marks may be
words, colours, logos, sounds and slogans. Often people register
a trade mark for the name of their company or for their products
and services names. Owners of trade marks can prevent others from
using the same or similar marks on products or services similar
to theirs, giving them a unique brand that assists in earning goodwill.
So when setting up your business using digital content, don't forget
about
intellectual property rights!
For further information please contact
Deirdre
Kilroy of the Gaming
and Gambling Unit.
May 2008.
© 2003-2008 LK Shields Solicitors.
All rights reserved.
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