What is copyright?
What does copyright protect?
What doesn’t qualify for copyright protection?
Am I the only copyright owner of my album?
What rights do I get as a copyright owner?
Who owns copyright?
How long does protection last?
What is the difference between a copyright and a trademark?
How will the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act affect me?
What is copyright?
The term copyright refers to a set of exclusive rights given to owners of original works like prototype drawings, films and sound recordings. In New Zealand, copyright is an automatic registered right that is exercised every time an original work is created, published and performed.
What does copyright protect?
To be protected as copyright, the work has to be original and fall under the following categories
- literary works: written works and text like novels, poems, articles, emails, training manuals, and song lyrics; tables and compilations including multimedia works; and computer programs
- dramatic works: includes works of dance, mime and film scenarios or scripts
- musical works: musical scores or arrangements, but not accompanying lyrics of dances (which could be separately protected as a literary or dramatic work). artistic works: graphical works such as paintings, drawings, diagrams, maps, models, photographs and sculptures
- sound recordings: recordings or fixation of sounds or literary, dramatic or musical works from which sounds can be reproduced
- films: recordings in any media of moving images, for any genre or format, separate from underlying script, music or broadcast
- communication works: including radio and television broadcasts and internet webcasts
- cable programmes: items included in a cable programme service
- typographical arrangements of published editions: the typeset or image of the published edition of the whole or part of a literary, dramatic or published work
What doesn’t qualify for copyright protection?
Copyright protection doesn’t apply to certain government works such as
- Parliamentary bills
- Acts of Parliament
- Regulations
- Bylaws
- Parliamentary debates
- Select Committee reports
- Court and tribunal judgements
- Reports of Royal Commissions, Commissions of Inquiry, Ministerial Inquiries or Statutory Inquiries
Am I the only copyright owner of my music album?
Not necessarily. Creative products can have several copyright works and copyright owners. Your music album can have copyright owners for images and layouts, then separate owners for song lyrics and artist profiles, and yet another copyright for the owner of the final product.
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What rights do I get as a copyright owner?
Copyright owners have exclusive rights in relation to their work to
- copy – reproduce, scan, record, download and store
- issue copies to the public – publish or distribute
- perform, play or show the work in public
- communicate their work to the public including radio and television broadcasts and internet web-casts
- adapt, including translating the work from one language to another
Who owns copyright?
The creator will usually be the owner of any copyright in that work. There are two exceptions
- where the work is created in the course of employment, the employer may be the owner
- where someone commissions and agrees to pay for a photograph, painting, drawing, diagram, map, chart, plan, engraving, model, sculpture, film, sound recording or computer programme, the commissioner will be the owner
The best idea is to get the copyright ownership sorted out before any work starts. You can include copyright and other Intellectual Property asset ownership information in an employment contract or you can fill out a specific IP transfer document. The terms and conditions of any contract that you enter into can impact on your ownership of copyright work and how you can use it.
How long does protection last?
Copyright protection for your work only lasts for a limited amount of time, depending on the category of the copyright work
- literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works: copyright protection lasts 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies
- product designs and casting moulds: copyright protection lasts 16 years from the time the work is commercially applied
- works of artistic craftsmanship commercially applied: copyright protection lasts 25 years from the time the work is commercially applied
- Sound recordings and film: copyright protection lasts 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the sound recording or film was made or made available to the public, whichever is the later
- broadcasts and cable programmes: copyright protection lasts 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the broadcast is made, or the cable programme is included in a cable programme service
- typographical arrangement of published editions: copyright protection lasts until 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the edition was first published
What is the difference between a copyright and a trademark?
A copyright protects original literary, dramatic, musical, communication and intellectual works. These works can be published or unpublished, and the copyright protects the form of expression the work takes. A trademark, on the other hand, is used to protect a work, symbol, name or device that is used for the purpose of trading goods. A trademark can be used to distinguish some goods from others because it acknowledges the source of the goods.
How will the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act affect me?
The Act is an amendment of the Copyright Act 1994. It's aim is to make it easier for a copyright holder to take someone to court for peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing of copyrighted material. See our news article about this.