Some works are are not copyright protected and in general, these are:
- Names, titles and slogans – the Copyright Act does not define these as protected by copyright. Many issues have been taken to court over the use of a name, title or slogan and in each case, the court has decided that is not protected by copyright. Some of these instances relate to advertising slogans, song titles, fictitious words created by a company as their name and titles of television programs.
- Ideas, facts, information and techniques – these things just as they are, are not covered by copyright however the means with which they were communicated to people are (such as documents, charts, drawings, diagrams etc). While it is not a breach of copyright to use someone elses idea it is important to keep in mind that it may be a breach of other laws if you are breaking confidentiality or your using the idea misleads people into thinking you are associated with the person who had original idea.
- Images of people – unless you are the owner of copyright of an image of yourself, it is very difficult to control the use of images of yourself.
While there are many other works in the world which are not currently covered by copyright (eg copyright owner is long dead), the details above only apply to works which are considered to “never be” covered by copyright.
Amanda
Advertisement
