There are numerous businesses whose owners or CEOs may seek advice, guidance, and on occasion, representation, from their commercial lawyers at Culshaw Miller Lawyers, concerning copyright law. Not every business type will require advice on copyright law due to the types of products that they make, but all businesses must be aware of how to comply with copyright law or risk falling foul of those copyright laws and having criminal or civil action taken against them.

It is not just businesses that need to comply, as individuals can break copyright law too. In both cases, that breach is likely to be one of several ways in which copyright law can be broken. These include copying, scanning, or printing protected material, publicly communicating protected works, or being renumerated for works for which you do not hold the copyright.

On the flip side, if a business is more likely to be a victim of copyright infringement rather than a perpetrator of them, it needs to know what copyright law protects, and how it protects them.

In Australia, there is no requirement for anyone or any entity, such as a business, to register their copyright for any “works” they have produced. Note that “works” is the catch-all term for anything capable of being copyrighted.

Instead of registering a copyright, the mere fact that you have created a work means your copyright protection starts from the instant of its creation. You do not even need to add the copyright symbol to your material for copyright protection to apply, however, it is best practice to add it anyway to deter those who may wish to steal your works.

Works can include anything written, drawn, recorded, or created by “the expression of an idea”. It is also worth pointing out the importance of the words “expression of” because copyright does not extend to the idea itself, only the work produced from the idea.