Infringement of copyright Definition

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What does Infringement of copyright mean?

The copyright, designs and patents act 1988 (CDPA 1988) gives the copyright owner exclusive rights in the UK to carry out various acts in relation to the copyright work. Activities set out in the CDPA 1988 carried out by those other than the copyright owner, without permission, may infringe the owner's exclusive rights.

There are two types of copyright infringement. Primary infringement occurs when a person does, or authorises another to do, any of the restricted acts without the permission of the owner of the copyright. Primary infringers are strictly liable, which means that their state of mind is not relevant to liability. Secondary infringement occurs 'further down the supply chain' where infringing works are dealt with or their production facilitated. Knowledge is required.

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Copyright infringement

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) gives the copyright owner exclusive rights in the UK to carry out various acts in relation to the copyright work. Activities set out in CDPA 1988 carried out by those other than the copyright owner, without permission, may infringe the owner's exclusive rights.IP completion dayAs of 31 January 2020, the UK ceased to be an EU Member State. In accordance with the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK entered a transition or implementation period of 11 months ending on 31 December 2020, during which it continued to be subject to EU law. Following the expiry of the transition period the UK is no longer subject to EU law. Although the UK is no longer subject to EU law, under the Withdrawal Agreement it is subject to so-called ‘retained EU law’ which captures EU-derived rights and legislation that the government has retained and preserved in UK law for legal continuity.Further, under the Withdrawal Agreement, any principles laid down by, and any decisions of, the...

Copyright infringement action—flowchart

STOP PRESS: This Flowchart is under review. Once it has been reviewed, its status will return to maintained. For more information about running an IP dispute, see Practice Note: How to run an IP dispute.Stage 1—preparing to bring a claim and pre-action mattersClaim preparation and pre-action matters—Practice Notes•Copyright―protectable works•Copyright—subsistence and qualification•Copyright—authorship and ownership•Copyright infringement•Interim and final injunctions—overview•Copyright—permitted acts and defences•Copyright—secondary infringement•How to run an IP dispute•Disclosure scheme—overviewClaim preparation and pre-action matters—Precedents•Notice of seizure of infringing copiesClaim preparation and pre-action matters—Checklist•Timetable for disclosure—Business and Property Courts disclosure pilotClaim preparation and pre-action matters—Forms•Application for injunction•Application notice•Notice of hearing of applicationClaim preparation and pre-action matters—News Analysis•The use of intellectual property insuranceStage 2—letter of claim alleging copyright infringementLetter alleging copyright infringement—Practice Notes•Unjustified threats of intellectual property right infringement•Civil and criminal remedies for intellectual property infringement•Copyright infringement—remediesLetter alleging copyright infringement—Precedents•Letter of claim—copyright infringement•Letter of claim—peer-to-peer copyright infringementStage 3—commencing proceedingsCommencing proceedings—Practice Notes•Copying software and copyright•Civil and criminal remedies for intellectual property infringement•Copyright infringement—remedies•Business and Property Courts•Copyright criminal offences•Disclosure scheme—overviewCommencing proceedings—Precedents•Claim form (copyright infringement)—the contents•Particulars of claim...

Discover our 57 Practice Notes on Infringement of copyright

Consultant’s appointment—long form design

Consultant’s appointment—long form design Contents This Agreement is made on [date] Parties 1 [Insert name of Employer] (Company Registration No. [insert number]) whose registered office is at [insert address of Employer] (the ‘Employer’, which term shall include all permitted assignees or other transferees under this Agreement); and 2 [Insert name of Consultant] (Company Registration No. [insert number]) whose registered office is at [insert address of Consultant] (the ‘Consultant’). background WHEREAS (A) The Employer has entered into or proposes to enter into a contract with [insert name of Contractor] of [insert address of Contractor] (the ‘Contractor’) for the design and construction of [insert brief description of the project] at [insert location of site] (the ‘Building Contract’). (B) The Employer wishes to appoint the Consultant to perform for the Employer the services as described in Schedule 2 to this Agreement (the ‘Services’) under the terms and conditions of this Agreement. [The Employer intends to novate the appointment of the Consultant to the Contractor in accordance with clause 24.] Now it...

Environmental consultant’s appointment

Environmental consultant’s appointment This Agreement is made on [insert date] 20[insert year] Parties 1 [Insert name of Client] of [insert address of Client] (‘the Client’ which term shall include all permitted assignees or other transferees under this agreement); and 2 [Insert name of Consultant] of [insert address of Consultant] (‘the Consultant’) Whereas (A) The Client wishes to [insert brief description of the [works OR project]] at the property [insert property address] (the “Property.”) (B) The Client wishes to appoint the Consultant to perform for the Client the services as described in Schedule 2 to this Agreement (the “Services”) under the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Now it is hereby agreed as follows 1 Definitions and interpretation 1.1 In this Agreement the following expressions shall have the following meanings unless the context requires otherwise: Additional Fee • means the additional fees (if any) payable by the Client to the Consultant pursuant to Clause 12 for performing any Additional Services which the Client may instruct...

Dive into our 10 Precedents related to Infringement of copyright

What is the EU law on data scraping from websites?

What is the EU law on data scraping from websites? What is scraping? Web scraping is a process by which website data is extracted (ie copied) using a web scraping program. Websites are typically coded in HTML and a range of different web scraping programs have been created which interface with the HTML code to collect copies of the data for use elsewhere. Another type of scraping relevant to website operators is screen scraping. In very basic terms, this involves deploying a program to complete forms on third party websites and then extract the output/results from those forms. Often the program will simulate a human operator to obtain the outputs (which is why websites sometimes set ‘challenge responses’ such as Captcha, requiring the user to enter a code shown on the screen to determine whether that user is a human operator or a program). Some price comparison websites use screen scraping programs. What is the relevant law? Some of the law in this area is derived from, or is, European...

How do I protect my copyright?

How do I protect my copyright? Understand copyright subsistence Copyright recognises the skill and labour expended by an author in creating a work. It is not so much about ideas as about the way they are expressed. In the UK, copyright is not a registered right: it arises automatically: the first step in protecting it, is to identify if it subsists in the relevant work. The subject matter must also be a work and the author of a work must qualify for protection. See Practice Note: Copyright—subsistence and qualification. For the kinds of works protected, see Practice Note: Copyright―protectable works. Use copyright notices Mark your work with a simple notice including the copyright symbol, eg © Copyright Lexis®Nexis 2013. For more detailed notices, see Precedent: Intellectual property notices and Do I need to use trade mark and copyright notices?. Do I actually own the copyright? Make sure you are the owner. As author/creator you are not always the owner of copyright, although you are usually the first...

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Court rejects summary judgment application in generative AI dispute (Getty Images (US) Inc v Stability AI Ltd)

TMT analysis: The Court rejected Stability’s application for summary judgment or strike out of parts of Getty’s claim concerning Stability’s image-generation AI, Stable Diffusion. Getty pleaded only an inference of primary copyright and database infringement in the UK, based on members of Stability’s team residing and working there. However, Getty’s claim has a real prospect of success because of evidence potentially pointing to UK acts, unanswered questions and inconsistencies in Stability’s evidence and the potential impact of disclosure. Further, the trial judge should decide whether ‘article’ for the pleaded secondary copyright infringement claims covers software, since this was a novel question and not straightforward. Getty was also allowed to amend its pleadings. As well as illustrating the challenges of obtaining summary judgment or strike out for a claim based only on an inference, the judgment contains clues as to Stability’s litigation strategy in a case where, almost a year in, it is yet to file a defence. Written by Matt Hervey, head of Artificial Intelligence Law at Gowling WLG.

IP weekly highlights—27 July 2023

Welcome to this week’s edition of the IP weekly highlights: a hand-picked summary of news analysis, updates and new content from the world of IP. These highlights focus on the key rights of copyright and associated rights, database rights, trade marks and passing off, designs, and patents as well as covering issues relating to confidential information, know-how R&D and IP disputes all mainly from a UK and European perspective.

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