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IP rights and their importance in the creative industries

 In this post we will cover topics related to Intelectual Property. What is IP and its rights? What is copyright and why is it so important? Answers for those and few more questions you will find below. 👇

What do we mean by the term IP?

Intelectual property is a category of property that includes creations of human intellect. The most well-known types of it are: copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets. Intellectual property rights allow you to make money from the intellectual property you own. 💰



You own intellectual property if you:

  • created it (and it meets the requirements for copyright, a patent or a design) 
  • bought intellectual property rights from the creator or a previous owner 
  • have a brand that could be a trade mark, for example, a well-known product name 

Intellectual property can: 

  • have more than one owner 
  • belong to people or businesses 
  • be sold or transferred

Why do IP rights in the creative industries matter?

Intellectual property is a powerful tool in the creative industries. Not only does it protect the integrity of original works and creativity, it also creates an ongoing revenue stream to invest in future projects. Intellectual property rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time.👮


Intellectual property rights are divided into two main areas:

  • Copyright and rights related to copyright -
    The rights of authors of literary and artistic works are protected by copyright, for a minimum period of 50 years after the death of the author. The main social purpose of protection of copyright and related rights is to encourage and reward creative work.

  • Industrial property - it's primary area characterized as the protection of distinctive signs, in particular trademarks and geographical indications. Other types of industrial property are protected primarily to stimulate innovation, design and the creation of technology.
 

Why is copyright so important?

A copyright is a collection of rights vest to someone who creates an original work of authorship. Without it every creation could be easily stolen and used for free. It helps creators with protection of their work and allows them to have healthy working and creating enviroment. 👍

 

Copyright covers work like:

  • songs, music, sounds recordings
  • broadcasts
  • literature
  • films
  • software, web content, databases
  • art, ilustrations, photographs
  • architecture

Copyright protects creator's work from:

  • copying, stealing and using his work for free
  • distributing copies of it, whether free of charge or for sale
  • performing, showing or playing his work in public without his knowledge
  • making an adaptation of his work
  • putting it on the internet
  • renting or lending copies of his work

 

Intellectual Property in Web Design and Development

As a web designer & developer I want to advise other people from that subject area on how they can protect their work, what should they focus on and what to do when someone tries to steal their work. Before we do that, first we have to remind ourselves what other types of IP protection than copyrights we have. 💂

 
1. Patents - grant an exclusive right, for up to twenty years, over the invention described in the issued patent claim. A key aspect that distinguishes patents is that the published patent documentation must enable a consumer of ordinary skill to make and use the invention.


 2. Trademark - word, name, logo, symbol, device, or any combination thereof, that can be used as a method of identification for goods or services. Trademarks allow customers to weigh the reputation of the producer of the goods or provider of the services they want to purchase/hire. 


3. Trade Secrets - legally protected pieces of information that companies keep internally for protection. These secrets include formulas, patterns, compilations, programs, devices, methods, techniques, processes, etc. 


 Popular legal disputes about websites, designs or software copyrights:


How to protect myself from breaking the copyrights law?

  • Always assume that something is protected by copyrights.
  • Do not assume that clip art, shareware, freeware, or materials labeled “royalty-free” or “copyright-free” can be distributed or copied without authorization.
  • Always read terms & conditions.
  • If someone complains about an unauthorized use on your website, remove the offending material immediately.
  • If someone complains about an unauthorized use, investigate the claim quickly and seek evidence of copyright ownership and validity from the complaining person.

How to protect my designed and developed work?

  • Remember, you can copyright your website's design but not the way you created it. Only the physical appearance or product can be subject to copyright.
  • You can't copyright your website’s domain or title.
  • By registering a copyright for your website, there is a public record of copyright ownership, so it's always good to do this as people can't take your work and claim it as theirs.
  • If you used any photos, pictures, videos, databases or other similar content which you created yourself, you can also copyright it as website's content.
  • The HTML and CSS codes for a website are considered original work and therefore protected by copyright.
  • Remember that any updates to the site require a new deposit and registration fee to gain copyrights.
  • The easiest way to copyright your site is to add a copyright symbol with the year's the copyright applies. 
  • To have rights to take legal action you will need to officially register your site's content with the Copyright office.

Does IP stifle creativity in the creative industries?

Some will say that yes, it does indeed, but many will say the opposite. People who agree are mostly people who don't really understand the whole concept of IP or "artists" who benefit from "inspiring themselves" with other's work. Every creator who respects his and others work will disagree. Why? Because he wants his work to be appricited, he wants to be treated fairly and to have control over something he created by himself. Intellectual property rights protect not only those people and their work but also their creativity. Without IP rights everyone would use everybody's work as much as they want so creators will have no control over their own creations. It would cause lack of motivation and fairness and shortly make artists give up and stop creating anything at all. It would kill their sense of stability, security and their creativity. Many people hate that copyrights are valid for such a long time (sometimes even to 70 years after artist's death) but I think that it's a proper tribute for an artist and all the work did during his life. There are some things that should be fixed in current copyright law but overall the main concept of it in our current world is inevitable. In my opinion IP doesn't stifle creativity, it makes it appriciated and growing all the time.


 

Thats it for this week's topic. Thank you for reading! 😎

 



 

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