Copyright is everywhere – from the cereal box at breakfast, to the movies on TV in the evening.
Why copyright?
Copyright is everywhere – from the cereal box at breakfast, to the movies on TV in the evening. We are all consumers of copyright – the music we listen to, the books we read, the movies we watch, the shows we attend, the social media we engage with – all are subject to copyright. It’s all “other people’s stuff” and we need their permission, either directly or indirectly to use it.
Copyright, in most cases, works very well, but when it goes wrong, it can cause great damage to both finances and reputation.
The big Intellectual Property issues reach the mass media – “Blurred Lines”, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, The Premier Football League, Led Zeppelin, Oracle v Google – and who could forget Colin the Caterpillar?
Only the celebrity cases tend to hit the headline, but every day, content users receive claims from image galleries, TV broadcasters, music companies, authors, publishers and copyright licensing organisations alleging misuse of their copyright.
Those users are bars, clubs, retailers, social media users, designers, media companies, photographers, hairdressers, spas, surgeries, gymnasia, charities – anyone who is using “other people’s stuff” without permission or licence.
Why gymnasia for example? Because they play music and in many cases, will be using fitness programmes from organisations such as Les Mills, Zumba and Jazzercise. What’s the problem? People just want to keep fit in a gym – surely there’s no copyright in an exercise? No, there isn’t – you can do squats, star jumps and stretch to your heart’s content, but when those exercises are combined into a specific programme by the creative work of Les Mills into his BodyCombat™, BodyAttack™, BodyStep™, BodyJump™, etc plans then copyright (and the LesMills Trademark) becomes a major player.
Please don’t ever get caught out in a copyright issue for the want of asking a question.
That’s what © HERE is here for – to advise, support and educate on copyright.