The owner of the copyright is the person who creates the
content, or the website that the content is published on, depending on the contract
of the person who created the content.
Fair dealing
Copyrighted work can be used if it is attributed, if it is in the public interest for it to be
used or the use of it is ‘fair’.
There is no fair dealing law for the use of photographs
though, any photos that you want to use must be bought from whoever owns the
copyright.
Copyrighted work is frequently used on news programmes,
especially when a famous person dies. Clips of the films or TV shows that an
actor has been in are shown alongside archive footage. Fair dealing allows
these clips to be shown on TV is they are being used it is a news event or for
purposes of review and comment. The source of the content must be attributed
and only a certain amount of footage can be used.
An example of this was a 2007 BBC News report on the sale of
Aston Martin. Clips of the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale were used in the
report, but were allowed to be used under fail dealing. The film was due for
release on DVD soon after the report, so it also acted as an advert for the
film.
Another example is ‘Newport State of Mind’ – a parody of
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ song Empire State of Mind. The parody used the same tune
as the original song, but the lyrics were changed.
The video was taken off YouTube for a period of time because
of a ‘copyright claim’ by EMI Music Publishing - the company that published the
original song. The video was still available to view on other websites though.
The Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988 says, “There is currently no exception which covers the creation of
parodies, caricatures or pastiches”. The use of work used in a parody must be
consented, unless it falls under fair dealing exceptions:
- the part of the underlying work is not
‘substantial’
- the use of the underlying work falls within the
fair dealing exception for ‘criticism, review and news reporting’
- enforcement of copyright is contrary to the
public interest
The Newport State of Mind video fails these exceptions
because a substantial part of the original song was used.
Sports broadcasting rights
This can be a particularly thorny
issue for broadcasters.
Sky and BT currently have the rights to show live Premier
League matches and BBC has the rights to show highlights. Any other broadcaster
using footage of Premier League matches must attribute the content to the
broadcaster that has shown the match live. This means that only matches shown
live on TV can be shown and the footage from Sky’s or BT’s coverage can be
used.
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