What is IP?
IP issues for journalists
Copyright is a major consideration for all journalists’ in both creating work and reporting. This section investigates ownership, enforcement, infringement and balancing the duty to report with the IP rights of others.
Journalists’ should treat their IP, which will primarily comprise copyright works, as a valuable asset. Journalists’ copyright works include literary and dramatic pieces such as articles, tables, reports, interviews and scripts, and artistic works such as drawings, graphs, cartoons and photographs. Mere ideas and pen names are not protected under copyright law.
Who owns copyright?
Print journalists’: In most situations, since 30 July 1998, if a work is created by a print journalist as part their job, the employer (eg. newspaper or magazine publisher) owns the copyright, including the right to digital reproduction of their work on the Internet, or in other digital media. However, journalists’ retain some rights such as a right to the photocopying of their printed works and book publication, unless they agree to assign these rights to the employer under a specific agreement13.
Freelance and independent journalists’: Depending on the terms of employment, including wording of employment contracts or commissioning briefs, a freelance or independent journalist may retain copyright for a work outside of the purpose for which it was commissioned14.
If more than one person or organisation contributes to the creation of an original copyright work, they may share the benefits of the copyright equally15, or in the proportion that the contributors may contractually agree.
Enforcing your intellectual property
It is crucial to keep dated records of notes and drafts as insurance against
IP infringement. These records will assist in proving your original authorship and the date of creation of the copyright work. It may also be helpful to seek legal advice when signing employment agreements that affect your rights to use and reproduce your work16.
Note: Journalists’ should consult a lawyer experienced in copyright when dealing with protection or infringement of their rights. It may also be worth seeking advice from a lawyer or your union before signing copyright agreements.
Freelance journalists’ submitting written work to a publisher on a speculative basis must ensure a covering letter is included explaining the potential licensing terms, otherwise a publisher may assume implied permission
to publish17.
When does copying become infringement?
Infringement occurs when someone other than the creator uses copyright material in any of the ways reserved exclusively for the creator, eg, to reproduce, communicate, publish and adapt the copyright work. If a recognisable or essential part of an original work has been used by another without permission, it is a breach of copyright. If your authorship of an original work is credited to another author, it is a breach of the original author’s moral rights. Imitating an author’s technique or style (but not form or expression of particular ideas) or using independently obtained similar facts and information is permissible and does not constitute copyright infringement18.
There are legal exceptions for journalists’ who use copyright material for criticism, review or reporting the news. However, journalists’ must correctly attribute the work and present it in a fair and unbiased light19.
Balancing the duty to report with the IP rights of others
A journalist must find an ethical balance between reporting issues of concern to the public and respecting the IP rights of individuals and organisations. For example, publishing an illustration of a new design that is pending registration could eliminate the designer’s ability to protect their innovation. In this case, there would often be ethical grounds to refrain from publishing the design until it is registered20.