Intellectual property is a relatively new domain and people tend to have misconceptions and misunderstandings about copyright law. The most common copyright myths and misconceptions are:
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Copyright can protect my idea
Reality: Copyright protects your idea only if the idea is expressed in a tangible form. Copyright applies to the actual recorded work – documents, music, artwork etc. Therefore, if a competitor uses your copyright work (copies or adapts or steals content from your website to promote their own product), this would be an infringement and you could certainly take action. On the other hand, there is little you can do to prevent someone else creating their own work based on a similar idea as long as they are not copying your work to do so.
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I can copyright a name or a title
Reality: There is no reason why two works cannot have the same title. As long as the content of works themselves are not copied or adapted, no infringement has occurred. But, the name itself can be protected through trademarks or other legislation. So, in a careful and diligent manner, you should analyze first the incidence of other rights on the name or title.
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I can simply post a copy to myself as proof of copyright
Reality: The main problem if you send your work to yourself via courier or the postal service (including recorded/tracked and signed for services) or use any other system which requires you to store the work yourself is that there is no verifiable evidence to say that the contents have not been swapped.
Therefore, what you can actually use are the services of a public notary in order to conclude a protocol for the content you have and also to affirm the date on which the content has been presented in front of the public notary and establish the precedent of your copyright.
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Everything on the Internet is ‘public domain’ and free to use
Reality: A work will fall into the public domain once copyright expires, this will typically be many years after the author’s death. While work published on the Internet may be publicly accessible, it is certainly not in the public domain.
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Anything without a copyright notice is not protected
Reality: Copyright will apply whether there is a copyright notice or not. However, it is still certainly worth placing a copyright notice on your work. A copyright notice reminds others that copyright exists, and may therefore help to deter infringement.
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If I change someone else’s work I can claim it as my own
Reality: The act of copying or adapting someone else’s work is a restricted act. Any adaptation will be legally regarded as a derived work; so if you simply adapt the work of others, it will still be their work, and they have every right to object you if publish such a work when they have not given you permission to do so. They are also entitled to reclaim any money you make from selling their work.
The only safe option is to create something that is not copied or adapted from the work of others, or seek the permission of the rights owner (you should expect to pay a fee and/or royalties for this).
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I can legally copy 10% without it being infringement
Reality: This is not the case. Unless it is explicitly allowed under fair use or fair dealing rules, any unauthorized use of copyright work can potentially lead to legal action.
Our advice would always be to seek permission before you use the work of others.
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It’s OK to copy or publish other peoples work if I don’t make any money out of it
Reality: No, except in specific circumstances permitted under fair dealing/fair use rules, any copying or publication without the consent of the copyright owner is an infringement, and you could face legal action.
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It’s hard to prove copyright infringement
Reality: This is not the case, copyright law is principally civil not criminal law. Civil law makes it easier to prove infringement.
If you are in doubts with matters related to copyright, contact us for further assistance.
Source: Information available on the UK Copyright Service website and other European institutions