This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more

LPC Law Notes Intellectual Property Law Notes

Copyright Notes

Updated Copyright Notes

Intellectual Property Law Notes

Intellectual Property Law

Approximately 524 pages

A collection of the best Intellectual Property notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through dozens of LPC samples from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor". In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of Intellectual Property notes available in the UK this year. This collection is fully updated...

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Intellectual Property Law Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

COPYRIGHT

  • Arises AUTOMATICALLY – no need to register (pose against the disadv. of it being harder to enforce)

  • Duration: Author’s life (distinguish from owner; so employee is author and employer is owner) + 70 years (CDPA, s12)

  • Broadcasts (TV, sound, cable) it is author’s life + 50 years

  • Typographical arrangements (from date of publication) is author’s life + 25 years

  • Everything covered under copyright are called ‘works’

  • The type of work covered under copyright is included in the Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988, Part 1, section 1 as well as the Berne Convention:

It is a property right which subsists in…

-original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works (covered in Berne)

- Sound recordings, films or broadcasts (related right)

- The typographical arrangement of published editions (related right)

  • The author in the related right does not need to be one person – can be a publisher

  • Most EU jurisdictions have ‘author rights’ and then ‘related rights’. Author rights include literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work. Related rights are like sound recordings

LDMA Copyrights

Literary Works

  • Covered under CDPA section 3: any work, other than a dramatic or musical work, which is written, spoken or sung…including:

  • A table or compilation other than a database

  • A computer program

  • Preparatory design material for a computer program

  • A database (less so since database right)

  • Not included: play/ melody, protected under a different legislation

  • CDPA s 178 provides the definition: “any form of notation or code, whether by hand or otherwise and regardless of the method or medium it is recorded and ‘written’”

  • UoL Press v United Tutorial Press – literary work: anything expressed in print or writing including online copies. Literary is to be distinguished from literature; does not matter about quality or style: so included report, notes, academic essays, business letter etc.

  • Exxon Corp v Exxon Insurance – Was the word Exxon literary work? Exxon, massive oil company versus Exxon in another sphere of business – insurance. Exxon has registered TM but difficult to bring when co. in different sector. Clever lawyers decided to try it out in copyright because it was “written, spoken or sung” and was original, it took time to work and come up with the name. Courts were hesitant about a single word being a literary work. Giving a monopoly over a word may raise fears or floodgates. CA decided there was NO copyright in a single word. Reason: in order to be a literary work it must have a certain quality and give certain information (affirming Holinrake). Contentious decision because a single word can do that. Test: information, instructional pleasure

  • There has been a shift in the approach to short literary works from where a short chain of words in a sentence would not be copyright (e.g. Francis Day: the title of a work, ‘Monte Carlo’ was not capable of copyright) to a situation where it can be (such as a newspaper headline in Meltwater)

Computer Programs (literary work)

  • Graphic works are protected under artistic work (see later) in contrast to coded instructions, computer programs are protected differently under literary works (Berne Convention)

  • BSA v MoC – televising of people playing video games potentially a copyright

  • An example of one could be Westlaw – does not have to be organised alphabetically

  • Defined in Directive 96/9 : “a collection of independent works, data or other material…arranged in a systematic or methodical way…individually accessible by electronic or other means”

  • Not devised for un-electronic things but can be used regardless

  • Fixtures List – in case there was an argument that fixtures were not independent (each fixture was linked to a league as a whole). COJ found that there was a sufficient degree of independent meaning and giving of information on when football fixtures are being played to constitute as a collection of independent works and thus a database.

Dramatic Works

  • CDPA section 3 a dramatic work includes a work of dance or mime [capable of performance that is recorded]. Remember, they are carved out of literary works so a script is dramatic copyright

  • Green v NZ – Court found a tv show was not a dramatic work because there was no sufficient unity – the programme varied from week to week.

  • Norowzian v Arks – jump-cutting advertising. CA found dramatic work because it was a work that involved action or movement and was capable of being shown in a film form (so does not only need to be through human performance). However, ultimately, film director still lost because the new work was a remake and similarities not sufficiently close enough

Musical Works

  • CDPA section 3 defines a musical work as a: “work consisting of music, exclusive of any words or action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music”

  • Lyrics of a song protected instead under literary work

  • Sawkins v Hyperion Records – music is not mere noise, the sound of music is intended to produce effects of some kind on the listener’s emotions and intellect. Broad approach to what can be musical forms but a written score is not in itself the music where copyright arises out of. Queried about originality as well on music first composed in 17/18th cent Lalanne music. The works that Sawkins has put in was sufficient to make it original. Wasn’t just transcribing – huge labour, effort and time. However, now would be hard to find as intellectual creation.

Artistic Works

  • CDPA section 4(1) defines artistic work as:

  1. Graphic work, photograph, sculpture or collage, irrespective of artistic quality [so judges should not make aesthetic judgements]

  2. A work of architecture being a building or a model for a building

  3. A work of artistic craftsmanship (3D things, not mass-produced, not sculptures – practically: never advise to seek copyright and instead go for design right)

{b and c require a degree of artistic qualities unlike a}

  • ...

Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our Intellectual Property Law Notes.