Summary of Coypright
Copyright is a component of group of Intellectual Property (IP) rights. It use to protect the author created work from pirating by others. The Intellectual Property is a creation of mind which includes novels, artistic works, song, names, slogans, logo, symbols, music, design, discoveries and invention and even buildings. Since long time, IP has become company intangible asset, hence those must be protected.
Copyright doesn't need to registered, as all the created work is consider protected by copyright as soon as the work exists.
Malaysia is one of the WIPO members and we have the Copyright Act in 1987 to protect the author works. Before an author claim for ownership on his work to get protected by copyright, his work must have 2 important elements under Section 7(3):
Original:
Original say the created work must be originally from himself and it doesn't matter how the expression but at least must not copy from others, and the work must be creative enough.
**Fact is not protected under the law
Fixation:
The created works must at least reduced to a fixed form or tangible medium.
**Ideas is not protected under the law
Section 36(1) say a person is guilty and offended the copyright infringement if that person does something on the copyrighted materials without any permission or license or consent of a copyright owner
However, certain conduct is not consider as infringement under section 13(2) if the copyrighted materials is for non-profit research, private study, criticism, review or reporting of current events, those we call as fair use. If such use in public, then it must accompanied by an acknowledgement of the title of the work and its authorship.
Under section 41(c), any infringing copies more than 3 set will not consider of domestic use.
Under section 40(c), backup copy is also not consider as copyright infringement.
e-Copyright infringement can always be found when a user download the song, movie, pictures, video from Net without license. Other than downloading those, copyright infringement will also occur when a user create deep-linking on his page where the link bypassing the front page or main page of the copyright owner.
Beside linking, framing can also be charge under copyright infringement without permission.
Hyperlink case: Shetland Time Limited v Dr. Jonathan Wills
Plaintiff: Shetland Time Limited
Defendant: Dr. Jonathan Wills
Shetland Time owns and publishes a newspaper and also publishes articles on its web-site. Shetland Time was unhappy that people could obtain access to its news item but bypassing the main page where most of the advertisements are published.
Dr. Jonathan Wills has make the deep-linking where it allow reader bypass the main page of Shetland Time and direct to the news items.
The court allowed Shetland Times' claim and held that the deep-linking amounted to copyright infringement.
Framing Case: Washington Post Co. v Total News. Inc
Plaintiff: Washington Post Co.
Defendant: Total News. Inc
Several publisher sued Total News for copyright and trademark infringement for farming the publishers' wed-sites alongside banner advertisements which belonged to Total News. This case has been settled out where Total News agree to link to but not to frame the plaintiff's web-site.
