Copyright
The copyright act allows a person to have sole ownership of their design/idea as soon as it is created. The copyright is automatic as soon as the design/idea is created so that no one can plagiarise or copy the design/idea. This gives the owner the power to sue anyone who uses their design/ idea in any way to make a profit. However, this does mean that someone can use the design/idea for personal use e.g. a drawing stuck to their refrigerator they have copied from a design as long as they make no profit from it. Copyright is subject to a time period which means that the design/idea is still subject to copyright for 70years after the owner’s death. It is important for the work to be copyrighted so that the owner cannot have his work copied and used for profit by anyone else. This could be seen as faith. This is important in interactive media as it means that anything I create is copyright and no one can steal the idea from me to make any profit. An example of this would be if i used Mickey mouse in a piece of my work to sell on a product without gaining permission from Disney first i would be liable to be sued by Disney. Because copyright is an automatic right it means that practically everything in the world is copyrighted. It also means that I’m not able to use anyone else’s designs in my own work without gaining permission from the owner first.
Getting permission
To get permission the person wishing to use the image must first determine who owns the copyrighted material and needs to contact the copyrighted piece’s owner and tell them what they are using it for and ask their permission to use it. From this a price/share can be made and agreed upon by both parties. This then means that the person can use the copyrighted work for their own money making activities. So if i got permission from Disney first and came to an agreement with them i would then be allowed to use Mickey Mouse on my design.
Design rights
Typically the creator of the piece of work owns all the rights to that specific piece of work unless the work has been commissioned or been created whilst the creator is under employment. In this case the company/ commission payer owns the rights to the work. This means that any work I create belongs to me unless I have been commissioned or I work for a company in which my work belongs to them. This is also true whilst I am on this course at college as any work I create here belongs to the college and they have the design rights. So this means that all the work i have done at college is owned by the college for design rights purposes but if i owned my own business any work created by me or anyone working for me would belong to me for design rights purposes.
Moral and paternal rights
The paternal right requires the author of any work to be credited for their work. For this right to come into effect the author is required to show a claim on their work usually on a contractual level. However, this means that for me to have any paternal rights on my own work I need to show that it is mine by either signing any work or having something that shows the work to be mine. An example of this is when me and my colleagues produced posters for a live brief and we put our names on the posters we created to show that we had moral and paternal rights.
Trademark
Trademark is symbolised by either a small Tm icon or and R in a circle next to the title of the work. The owner of someone who has registered a trademark may take legal action against someone who is using the trademark images unauthorised. The owner of a common law trademark may file suit against someone. However, an unregistered trademark can only be protected in the geographical area that it has been used in. This means that to further protect my work from someone copyrighting it and to show that I have sole ownership over that particular design or brand I can register my design under trademark laws so that I can take legal action against anyone anywhere that copies it to make any profit. Registration costs around £500 pound with an extra £50 pound for each design that is to be trademarked. An example of a trademark is Mc Donalds 'M' which shows that the products belong to the Mc Donald's company.
Patents
A patent allows the patentee to exclude anyone else from making, using, selling, offering for sale or importing the patented invention for any profit making benefit. The patent usually lasts around 20 years from the filing date. To sum up a patent is an agreement with the government that gives the patentee the sole right to profit from their work in exchange for their agreement to share details of their creations with the public. However, a patent does not prevent other people from creating a similar product that has many improvements or changes from the patented creation. This means that I am allowed to get any interactive media products patented so that I can share them with the public and make all the profit from that creation. For example, when the company Apple created the first Ipod they had a patent on that as it was different from other MP3 players but was still available to the public.
Libel
Libel is when defamation is written down via email, bulletins and websites. If a person who is being defamed could have their reputation damaged or they could suffer a loss e.g. their job because of it then they can take the person causing the damages to court. It is then in court that they can prove the defamation to be false and subsequently sue to opposing party. The amount of damages caused is based on how far the rumours have spread and who has been sent the rumours. For example, if someone sends a rumour via email to the damaged parties bosses or superiors this is classed as a worse case as it could affect the persons earnings. This affects me as if I create an image with text that insults the person on the image or could cause them damages then I can be sued for Libel. For example if i was to create an image that blantently insulted a celebrity i would be liable for being sued for Libel.
Racial relations act
The Race relations act makes it unlawful for anyone to discriminate against anyone on the grounds of their race, colour, nationality, religious beliefs, national or ethic origins. This means that when creating a product of interactive media I am not able to show anything or have it contain anything that discriminates anyone of a different race. An example of this would be to have a group of one race assaulting someone else because of their different racial background in a game or on a poster. This also means that companies now have to ensure that when games have a ‘create a character’ feature the user is able to change the colour of the game characters skin and make any ethical changes that are available to suit their race. This also includes the deliberate/accidental use of words that insult a specific race of people. To avoid being sued for breech of this act many companies ensure that any piece of interactive media produced for the internet, video or games are usually in many languages so that everyone can understand the product.
Obscene publication act
This act is in place to stop the designs corrupting or influencing others. It is also in place to stop any images deemed inappropriate (e.g. necrophilia, dead bodies) from being published. This act is mainly based on the opinions of the public and the decision to remove an image from public view is mainly decided through the amount of complaints an image gets. The penalty for the publication of these images can lead to up to 2 years imprisonment. An example of this is when a perfume company had an advert that included an image of a naked dead woman which gained many complaints and so had to be removed. The decision that is made to decide whether something is obscene is decided by the BBFC. This a board of examiners who come from a variety of backgrounds including social work, teaching, probation, journalism, research, psychology and marketing. It is this board that gives films, games etc ratings to decide who is suited to view it and why e.g. violence, sexual content etc. However, in some cases the content is too obscene and is rejected by the BBFC and could mean that the creator could be prosecuted under the Obscene Publications act and face a fine and possibly jail. For example, in the film 'The Patriot' a man is seen getting head taken off by a cannon quite visibly but the film was still released but with a rating of 15 so this shows that the BBFC board felt that the scene was suitable for people aged 15 and above.
Computer misuse act
This act is put in place to stop people from uploading viruses onto other people's computers or from hacking into someone else’s personal files and retrieving personal data. The punishment for this is a fine and possible imprisonment. This means that anyone who is able to view the data but is unauthorised to do so can be charged for being in breech of this act. This is closely linked to the data protection act as if anyone manages to obtained unauthorised personal data then they can be charged and so can the owner of the data.
Data protection act
This is designed around the storage and handling of data connected to personal details of everyone. Only people you have given permission too can see your details and it is up to them to keep these protected. These details are held for a certain amount of time before being destroyed or deleted. If they fail protecting these details from leaking out to other people then they can receive a fine or even imprisonment. Once registered, data users must comply with the eight Data Protection principles of good information handling practice contained in the Act. Broadly these state that personal data must be:
1. Fairly and lawfully processed;
2. Processed for limited purpose;
3. Adequate, relevant and not excessive;
4. Accurate;
5. Not kept longer than necessary;
6. Processed in accordance with the subject’s rights;
7. Secure;
8. Not transferred to countries without adequate protection.
Accessibility
Accessibility deals with the issues people have with accessing the information on any interactive media creations. This includes the designing of computer consoles or web page design. This means that when I create a game, console, webpage or design a product I need to make sure that everyone will have access to it. This is particularly important when considering people with disabilities. This means that when I create a product of interactive media I should consider whether disabled people are able to use, understand the product I have created. If I do not I will be in breech of the Disabled Rights Act and could face a fine/imprisonment. This act is their so that people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to make use of any product that is created.
Age Discrimination Act
The Age Discrimination act means that no one can be discriminated against in any for of interactive media because of their age. For example, a person in a game who is obviously elderly can not be specified as a main target in the game due to their age. This would result in the game’s creator being sued for breeching the act and could result in the creator being fined or even imprisoned.
Contracts
For any contract to be made legally binding the elements of offer and acceptance must be made to exist during the making of the contract. This means that the contract had an offer from the one requesting use from the owner/author with unconditional acceptance of the offer otherwise the offer will have to be remade to suit the acceptance. On this basis there is a possibility that an agreement is never made because one side of the contract does not accept the terms. Contracts usually are made between two parties that make different terms to be agreed on. Contracts can vary from simple phone contracts to copyright issued contracts. This means that if i wish to use someone else's design i have to make them an offer until both parties come to an agreement on the terms and conditions of the contract.
Bibliography:
Internet resources:
http://www.urban75.org/info/libel.html
http://www.emmainteractive.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9895&Itemid=3288
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyrights
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/structure/structure06.php
http://www.copyrightkids.org/permissioninformation.htm
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/protect/p15_design_rights
http://www.alcs.co.uk/About_ALCS/Copyright%20Authors%20Rights/Moral_Rights.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trademark
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent
http://www.gillhams.com/dictionary/276.cfm
Book research:
‘A’ LEVEL ICT 3rd edition, P.M Heathcote, page 56-57
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