Copyright and you
Copyright
is an intellectual property right recognised and
protected by law. In
Copyright exists in all forms of
works, such as books, periodicals, magazines, compilations of information,
photographs, diagrams, dances, scripts for plays, computer programmes,
drawings, sculpture, musical scores, lyrics, sound recordings, cinematographic films, television broadcasts and cable programmes, etc.
Copyright owners and owner rights
Generally,
the author of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is the owner of
the copyright.
In the case of other forms of
copyrighted materials like sound recordings, films,
etc, the maker is the copyright owner, although in both cases, these rights could
be subject to assignments.
The owner of a copyrighted work has
monopoly rights to reproduce, publish, communicate to the public, perform or
make an adaptation of the work. It is an infringement of such rights for any
other person to do such acts without the consent of the copyright owner.
Where students download songs, movies,
software or photocopies entire or substantial portions of a book, they would
probably have infringed copyright. In the context of students in
Consequences of copyright infringement
A person found guilty of copyright infringement could be liable for civil and
criminal sanctions depending on the nature of the offending acts.
Civil liabilities include an order by
the Court for the infringer to pay the copyright owner compensation in the form
of monetary damages. If you have made any profit
from the infringing acts, you could be made to pay all
profits you may have made. The copyright owner
would probably also obtain an injunction to prevent further infringement.
Criminal sanctions may be very serious. If a person commits infringement
willfully and the infringement is either significant
or the infringer commits the infringement to obtain a commercial advantage, he
would be liable, if convicted, to a fine not
exceeding $20,000 and/or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months. In
the case of a second or subsequent offence, the maximum fine
and imprisonment term are $50,000 and three years respectively.
Therefore, massive regular downloading of songs or movies using peer-to-peer
networks, for example, could be considered to be willful and significant infringement, and result in the
commission of a criminal offence by the downloader.
A person in the possession of five or more
infringing copies of any work is presumed to be in
possession of the same for sale. The statutory penalties for copyright
infringement for the purpose of sale are a fine
of $10,000/- for each infringing article or $100,000, whichever is lower. The
Court may also impose a term of imprisonment not exceeding five
years.
In both cases, the Court may also
order that all infringing copies or any article predominantly used for making
infringing copies be either destroyed or surrendered to the
owner.
Is any copying permitted?
Yes, the law provides certain exceptions under which copying is not considered
infringement.
Copying of works in the following
instances will not constitute infringement:
1. You are deemed
to have copied for the purpose of self-study or research and therefore not
infringed copyright if:
(a) you copy one article in a periodical publication;
(b) where a
literary, dramatic or musical work is not less than 10 pages, you copy up to
10% of the number of pages in the published edition of the work or if the work
is divided into chapters, up to one chapter.
If you copy in excess of the above limits, you will be deemed
not to have copied for the purpose of self-study or research. You will then
have the burden of proving that your copying constitutes a fair dealing of the
work.
The factors
to be considered are:
(i) the
purpose and character of the dealing, including whether such dealing is of a
commercial nature or is for
non-profit educational purpose;
(ii) the nature
of the work or adaptation;
(iii) the
amount and substantiality of the part copied taken in relation to the whole
work or adaptation; and
(iv) the effect of the dealing upon the potential market for, or value
of, the work or adaptation.
2. In the case of
literary, dramatic or musical works in electronic form, you are deemed to have
copied for the purpose of self-study or research and therefore not infringed
copyright if:-
(a) you copy not more than
10% of the total number of bytes in that edition; or
(b) 10% of the total number of words
in that edition or, where it is not practicable to use the total number of
words as a measure, 10% of the contents of that edition.
If you copy in excess of the above limits, you will be
deemed not to have copied for the purpose of self-study or research, and the
factors in one(i) to (iv) will be considered to
establish fair dealing in the work.
3. The making of
a copy of a computer programme is not copyright infringement
if the reproduction is made on behalf of the owner and the reproduction is for the purpose of being used as a back-up copy of the
original computer programme.
4. Course to
certain qualifications specified
in the Copyright Act, you will not infringe copyright in an audio-visual work
(such as sound recording, film, sound
broadcast, television broadcast or cable programme)
if the copying was for research or private study.
5. You may copy a
film or television recording or sound broadcast
or cable programme provided that
such a copy is made for private and domestic use. If the film
or recording is seen or heard in public, it shall be
deemed to be made not for private and domestic use.
6. You
may copy a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for the purposes of
criticism or review, and for the reporting of current events, provided a sufficient acknowledgement of the work is made.
7. You
may copy a work after the copyright in the work ceases to subsist.
How long does copyright subsist?
For all literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, copyright shall subsist
for the lifetime of the author and 70 years after his death.
Copyright in sound recordings and films will
subsist for 70 years from the date of first
publication whereas for television and sound broadcasts as well as cable programmes, copyright will subsist for 50 years from the
end of the calendar year in which the broadcast was made
or the cable programme was first
included in a cable programme service.
Conclusion
The University takes a serious view of any infringement of copyright by
students and a contravention of the provisions of the Copyright Act is deemed to be a breach of the University's rules and regulations,
which could result in disciplinary action.
The University advises all students to respect the copyright of all copyright
owners' works and encourages the purchase of original textbooks, CDs, DVDs and/
or other copyrighted materials that are required for your programmes
of study. The cost of these materials is insignificant
compared to the penalties for copyright infringement.