How to Obtain Copyright Protection?

Qualifying for copyright protection

To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be original.

An original work is one that is independently created and not copied from the work of another or from materials in the public domain. Originality relates to the form of expression and not to the underlying idea.

Some countries also require that the work be fixed in some material form, for example: written on paper, stored on a disk, painted on canvas or recorded on tape. Choreographic works or improvised speeches or music performances that have not been notated or recorded, are not protected.

Proof of creation

You can create evidence that you authored a work at a particular point in time through:

• Registration: Some countries have a national copyright office that provides an option to deposit and/or register your works for a fee. Doing so provides evidence of the existence of a valid claim to copyright protection.
• Deposit: You may deposit a copy of your work with a bank or lawyer. Alternatively, you could send yourself a copy of your work in a sealed envelope by special delivery post leaving the envelope unopened upon delivery. However, not all countries accept this practice as valid evidence.
• Marking: Works that are published should be marked with a copyright notice. It is also advisable to mark your work with specific standard identification numbering systems, for example: ISBN for books; ISRC for sound recordings; ISAN for audiovisual works, etc.

Rights management information

Rights management information involves marking the digital works with information about its copyright protection, owner, etc. This can be done through:

Labeling the digital content: for example, with a copyright notice or a warning such as “May be reproduced for non-commercial purposes only.” It is good practice also to include a copyright statement on every page of your business website that spells out the terms and conditions for use of the content on that page.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): a system for identifying copyright works in the digital environment. DOIs are digital tags/names assigned to a work in digital form for use on the Internet. They are used to provide current information, including where the work can be found on the Internet. Information about a digital work may change over time, including where to find it, but its DOI will not change.

Time stamp: a label attached to digital content (works), which can prove what the state of the content was at a given time. Time is a critical element when proving copyright infringement: when a particular e-mail was sent, when a contract was agreed to, when a piece of intellectual property was created or modified, or when digital evidence was taken. A specialized time-stamping service may be involved to certify the time a document was created.

Digital watermarks: use of software to embed copyright information into the digital work itself. The digital watermark may be in a visible form that is readily apparent, much like a copyright notice on the margin of a photograph, or it may be embedded throughout the document, just as documents are printed on watermarked papers. Often, it is embedded so that in normal use it remains undetected. While visible watermarks are useful for deterrence, invisible watermarks are useful for proving theft and on-line tracing of the use of a copyright work.

Technological Protection Measures

Some businesses prefer to use technology to limit access to their works to only those customers who accept certain terms and conditions for the use of the works. They use Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) to permit/deny access or use of the digital works. Such measures may include the following:

Encryption: often used to safeguard software products, phonograms and audiovisual works from unlicensed use. For example, when a customer downloads a work, DRM software can contact a clearinghouse (an institution which manages the copyright and related rights) to arrange payment, decrypt the file, and assign an individual “key”- such as a password – to the customer for viewing, or listening to, the content.

Access control or conditional access system: in its simplest form, it checks the identity of the user, the content files, and the privileges (reading, altering, executing, etc.) that each user has for a particular work. An owner of a digital work may configure access in numerous ways. For example, a document may be viewable but not printable, or may be used only for a limited period of time.

Releasing only versions of lower quality: For instance, businesses can post photographs or other images on their website with sufficient detail to determine whether they would be useful, e.g., in an advertising layout, but with insufficient detail and quality to allow reproduction in a magazine