Week 7

Question 1

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Answer 1

• Copyright is owned by the creator of any piece of work created using skill, labour or judgement
• If that work is stolen or reproduced, the creator can sue for damages
• In freelance the creator owns copyright
• If created in the course of employment the employer owns copyright
• Owner can license or ‘assign’ their work so others can use it or own it

Penalties
- injunction
- damages ££
- claim on profits
- order for possession

Question 2

Copyright works include

Answer 2

all kinds of text whether handwritten, printed or online, such as books, journalistic and scientific articles, poems, lyrics, plays, scripts, shorthand or longhand records of speeches and interviews,

Musical manuscripts,
photographs,
design documents,
websites,
templates
bureaucratic forms
graphic works,
maps,
plans,
sketches,
paintings,
sculptures,
databases and
computer programmes

Question 3

When is copyright breached 5

Answer 3

• If all or a substantial part of a work is copied without permission
• It can be prosecuted as a criminal offence
• New events are not subject to copyright but the skill of writing quotes, or a headline, or layout are
• If a quote is taken without attribution
• Pix/vids from the internet without permission

Question 4

Defence of ‘fair dealing’

Answer 4

Applies for the purpose of reporting ‘news and current news’
It can also be used for criticism or review

Question 5

‘Fair dealing’ defence includes

Answer 5

• The media organisation must publish sufficient acknowledgement of the work and its author
• Media must not publish more than is ‘necessary’
• Allows unauthorised use of a few seconds of footage or some quotes
• Photos are excluded

Question 6

Public interest

Answer 6

• Unauthorised publication of copyright material can very rarely be in the public interest
• Courts decide this on a case-by-case basis
• It will decide if copyright was necessary
• May win if it exposes something immoral, damaging to public life, health, safety or the administration of justice or incites immoral behaviour or in some other circumstances

Question 7

Photo’s taken before July 31 1989

Answer 7

Copyright is owned by the commissioner

Question 8

Photo’s taken after July 31 1989

Answer 8

Copyright is owned by the photographer

The commissioner has a moral right for any film or photo commissioned for a private or domestic purpose so can also sue for breach of copyright if the pic/film is used without their permission

Question 9

Defamation Act 1996 amended by the Defamation Act 2013

Answer 9

• Protects people from unjustified attacks on their reputation
• Civil court

Question 10

To sue someone for defamation you must prove the following:

Answer 10

Defamation
Identification
Publication
Serious harm/Serious financial loss

Question 11

Libel

Answer 11

The publication of a statement in written or any other permanent form, which affects the reputation of a person, company or organisation

Permanent form includes; a statement ], text, tweet or broadcast

Question 12

Slander

Answer 12

A defamatory statement in a transient (spoken) form - no permanent record of it

Question 13

A statement is defamatory if it does any of the following 4

Answer 13

• Causes someone to be shunned or avoided
• Lower them in the estimation of right-thinking members of society
• Exposes them in the estimations of right-thinking members of society generally
• Disparages them in their business, office, trade or profession

Question 14

Standard of proof

Answer 14

On the balance of probabilities

Question 15

The Remedy

Answer 15

Damages, paying for both sides

Question 16

Repetition Rule

Answer 16

If you repeat a defamatory statement you could be sued for defamation too

Question 17

Case laws

Answer 17

Depp v Newsgroup Newspapers
Vardy v Rooney

Question 18

Limitation period

Answer 18

You have 12 months from the date of first publication to bring an action for defamation

Question 19

Inference

Answer 19

A statement with a secondary meaning which can be understood by someone without specialist knowledge, reading between the lines

Question 20

Innuendo

Answer 20

A hint towards a hidden meaning which is defamatory to someone with specialist knowledge

Question 21

Identification

Answer 21

Always ensure you’ve identified the right person, a risk of more than one person suing

The test is whether the statement would ‘reasonably lead to those acquainted with the complainant to belive that he or she was the person referred to’

Question 22

Juxtaposition

Answer 22

Be careful with images and captions, or stories placed next to other images

Question 23

Publication

Answer 23

The words complained of must be published to a third party

But just because the allegedly libellous words have been published online it doesn’t mean a libel action will succeed

Question 24

Section 5 of the Defamation Act 2013

Answer 24

Protects website operators against defamation by users if they show they are only hosting content

But if the claimant can’t identify the user or the website operator has failed to act quickly on a notice of complaint then the website operator can be held liable

Question 25

Regulation 19 of the Electronic Commerce Regulations 2002

Answer 25

Media organisations and other website operators who don’t moderate the comments on their websites are protected against action for comments posted that breach criminal law

Question 26

If a post:

Answer 26

• Threatens violence
• Breaches Contempt of Court laws
• Identifies victims of sexual intercourse

Operators are protected if they take down the posts as soon as they see them

Question 27

Apology

Answer 27

Badly-worded apologies can repeat libel or could imply another party is wrong/lying

Seek help from an editor or lawyer before publication

Never offer to change a court report - there is a specific defence in defamation for court reporting