Protecting your designs and copyright

[S-CAT]

It has been a sore point on this forum but this should clear things up for some of you........


  This post includes information from Everyday Practical Electronics DEC 2007. It was written by Sara Ludlam of Ludlams Solicitors who is a specialist Intellectual Property lawyer. In this article, specially written for EPE readers, Sara explains how best to protect your design ideas from copyright infringement or theft.

" Budding ideas

      Many budding inventors have ideas that they think might be patentable or worth protecting in some way. Electronics manufacturers and designers these days are involved not only with hardware design (eg circuitry and printed circut board layouts etc.) but also the associated software, often involving the develpment of microcontroller source codes that are embedded into controller chips (creating firmware). So what sort of protection is available to individuals or companies seeking to prevent their idea from being pirated by anyone else?
      The first thing that I should say, since this is a magazine about electronics, is that most software programs in the UK cannot be protected by patents. It is a contraversial issue in the UK. It is not the case in all countries, as some do allow patent law to protect software programs. This article will only deal with the rights available in the UK.

   A patently good idea

       Patents give you a 20 year monopoly right in an invention, but it can only be obtained if your invention falls within what is acceptable as an 'invention'. There is a list of what cannot be protected by patent law in the UK in the Patentss Act 1976.
       Most new software does not contribute what has been described as a 'technical effect' to the body of knowledge already in the world. It cannot therefore be patented. If you are unsure, you should ask your local patent attorney, but do not tell anyone else about your new software or invention. If you tell people without requiring them to sign a confidentiality or Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) first, it is considered to be 'public' knowledge and patent law will not protect it.

    Copyright

        Copyright is the main form of protection for software in the UK. Unlike patent rights, though, copyright is an automatic right in the UK. It exists automatically on the creation of a new work, without the need for registration(This is not the case in all countries and it is recomended that in the USA you should register and copyright works at the Copyright Registry.) The lack of registration can cause a problem if there is an argument about when you wrote the software and if you really are the first author or creator of the work. It is, therefore, strongly recommended that you always post yourself a copy of the original work(or the earliest copy you have) and date and sign it. Do not then open the envelope, but keep it somewhere safe in case your authorship or the date of the creation is ever questioned.
        If someone designs a circuit and draws it out by hand, or with a computer-aided package that work is protected by copyright if it is a novel circuit. If someone else takes the same circuit diagram and redraws it so it looks different then that constitutes copyright infringement. But you may need to have evidence that your copyright work had been copied.  If the electrical circuit looks different then you would need to show that the infringer had worked from your original.

     Who owns copyright?

        So, who owns the copyright in the work? Copyright cannot be transfered to another without a written document assingning such rights, and such a document must refer to consideration having been given for the transfer, and the document must be signed by the assignor. This means that even if you have been paid for your design work, the copyright does not belong to the party that  commissioned the workunless you have said so in writting and signed such a document.
        This point is a common misconception. It would seem logical that if you paid a third party to, say, write some bespoke software for you, or design a new machine, then once you had paid that software programmer or designer, you would own the copyrigh of that work. This is not the case.
         You own the copy of the work you may have been given further to payment or as otherwise agreed. You may also have certain rights to reproduce that work and use it in various situations. But such reproduction rights and right to use the work is limited in scope unless you are the copyright owner in that work, having taken a written asignment of copyright from the creaor of the work. If you have not, then you are using a work under licence. You do not own the copyright of that work.
         The licence might be express, if you have agreed terms. for example, the licence might state that that you can only reproduce the work for your emloyees' use, and use it in the UK. Or the licence may be implied where there is no formal agreement, and the law would have to infer terms of that licence from the way in which the parties have behaved. For example, how much would be paid for the work, and has the copyright owner controlled further uses of the work?
          Remember that copyright does not need to be registered, as I have explained above, but it does need to be protected if you are to maintain it. So the reader would need to prove that he is the author/ creator of the work and show that he is the first person to design that particular circuit board.If there are no records of creation, this can be a difficult process, so do bear in mind that you should keep rough drafts and prototypes when developing new work, as evidence of your creativity and originality.
          Also , be aware that the first owner of a copyright work will be the creator/ author unless the work is created  in the course of employment. In such an instannce the work and copyright in the work is automatically the property of the employer.

     Damages and notices

          You are normally entitled to recover damages for unauthorised use by a third party of your copyright or design right work. (This ai subject to the caveat covered below re. use of notices). 'Damages' is the value placed on the harm done to you by the unauthorised third party use of your work. It is assessed either by an account of the profits made by the third party having used your work, or by the amount you have lost by such unauthorised activity.
           It is important if you are the owner of IP rights in a work that you tell the world about it by using 'notices'. In relation to copyright, the notice is the well known symbol  (a circled letter 'C' followed by a full stop). Next to this symbol you should put the name of the copyright owner, either an individual or a company, and the date.
           If your work has design right protection available to it then a further notice should be published on the work or its packaging: 'Design rights owned by [...].[Date]'
           The reason why I say you should always tell the world that the work they are looking at is a copyright or design right protected work is because of'damages'. If a third party uses your work without your authority, and there is no copyright or design notice on it, they may be able to successfully argue that damages are not appropriate because their use of your work was 'innocent'.
            If it is shown that at the time of the infringement the defendant did not know and had no reason to believe that the design right or copyright subsisted in the work to which the action relates, the claimant is not entitled to damages aginst the defendant. So, by using notices you are removing any opportunity for an infringer to avoid paying you damages."



   

[Circuitbenders]

  This post includes information from Everyday Practical Electronics DEC 2007. It was written by Sara Ludlam of Ludlams Solicitors who is a specialist Intellectual Property lawyer. In this article, specially written for EPE readers, Sara explains how best to protect your design ideas from copyright infringement or theft.

hmmm, and ironically i could probably get taken to court for you reproducing that on this forum 

[S-CAT]

  This post includes information from Everyday Practical Electronics DEC 2007. It was written by Sara Ludlam of Ludlams Solicitors who is a specialist Intellectual Property lawyer. In this article, specially written for EPE readers, Sara explains how best to protect your design ideas from copyright infringement or theft.

hmmm, and ironically i could probably get taken to court for you reproducing that on this forum 

Because I have given the name of the publication and of the author then you are fine.

[Illuminasty]

So what are we saying? We take an already existing piece of hardware and effectively modify it.
I can understand if we create hardware from the ground up including it's exterior design and create hardware that is completely different to existing hardware's then yeah, you would want to copyright it and protect it from copyright infringement. But then if someone took your hardware and modified it wouldn't that be what we are doing as circuit benders?
I know that in order to protect my music I need to be able to prove that I have a copy of it before anyone else and I do this by posting a CD with the track on it to myself via recorded delivery (and not to open it when it arrives). This proves that I have a copy of the CD, with a recorded date, before anyone else.
I'm not sure, maybe you'd send the design of the schematics and exterior designs in an envelope to yourself in the same way... If this is hardware created by yourself.
Maybe you can copyright an image design applied to the exterior...
How does this work with the circuit-bent hardware itself?   

[Circuitbenders]

Seems to me that s-cat's idea that he could modify a VL1 and then contact Casio and try to get them to agree to let him file a copyright on the mod or have some kind of dual copyright arrangement, would be rather like me adding an extra song to the Sgt Pepper album and then contactling Paul McCartney and telling him i've modified his album so now i want him to agree that i was in the beatles and we should have a dual copyright.   

or maybe not.............

[Illuminasty]

Wow, I mean I'd be happy just to modify something and get credit for it.
The only thing I'd be worried about is if I done some really cool design on the exterior with a colour-scheme that was signature to my work, for example, and then someone done the exact same design on theirs...
But then these days, aint we just modifying someone elses idea? I mean pretty much everything has either been done or thought of (by which I mean futuristic movies for example).
So the only way to get around this would be to custom paint a detailed design on the exterior. Now I aint going on much about the interior or mods to the circuitry or choice of controls ect. because I should imagine it'd be quite hard to copy someones idea of wiring if, say, the hardware was sealed up for a demo video and it'd be pathetic if someone got fired up because "They stole my idea of having a switch there!".
For example, y'know that video on youtube of the circuitbent keyboard with the baby head on it? Well if I came up with that 1st then someone done exactly the same thing after and was going round like he was the 1st, I'd be p***ed off. Equally this is the same reason why I don't cat other peoples ideas because I wouldn't want people say "Uh he stole that idea for what'shisname". The whole copyright and law issue dosn't matter to me because there are so many loopholes to exploit.
I would love to hear other peoples views on this matter 

[ZedAxis]

I know that in order to protect my music I need to be able to prove that I have a copy of it before anyone else and I do this by posting a CD with the track on it to myself via recorded delivery

And aint it a fucker that even if you could prove that it was your original idea first - who would listen anyhow? You'd need a lot of money for the best lawyers to prove anything. Even proper contracts & licensing deals are pretty useless to a powerless individual. A well connected operator in the shady music biz can do  whatever with little chance of any comeback. I don't know how shady casio are???

I aint just sticking up for the poor impoverished righteous artists either!! Likewise they can just welsh on contracts & agreements & a small label could do nowt to enforce anything.

I like the idea of anti-copyright & price ceilings etc. to get round this to some extent. I creates a little space for things to grow before they eventually get exploited somehow & recuperated. I 'm thinking about the Crass logo used by DKNY for example.

[Illuminasty]

I know that in order to protect my music I need to be able to prove that I have a copy of it before anyone else and I do this by posting a CD with the track on it to myself via recorded delivery

And aint it a fucker that even if you could prove that it was your original idea first - who would listen anyhow? You'd need a lot of money for the best lawyers to prove anything. Even proper contracts & licensing deals are pretty useless to a powerless individual. A well connected operator in the shady music biz can do  whatever with little chance of any comeback. I don't know how shady casio are???

I aint just sticking up for the poor impoverished righteous artists either!! Likewise they can just welsh on contracts & agreements & a small label could do nowt to enforce anything.

I like the idea of anti-copyright & price ceilings etc. to get round this to some extent. I creates a little space for things to grow before they eventually get exploited somehow & recuperated. I 'm thinking about the Crass logo used by DKNY for example.

It is unavoidable but at least it scares off the people that aint in the know 

[Gordonjcp]

I'm not into making money off my software and weird noises, but if I could pull down 30 quid a month it would cover my hosting...

[Illuminasty]

I'm not into making money off my software and weird noises, but if I could pull down 30 quid a month it would cover my hosting...

It dosn't come to a surprise that the majority of today's artists have a day job as their main source of income and simply have the music (whatever they do) as a hobby. If you're interested in making money out of this hobby, here's a few tips:

1.) Adverts on your website. Check out similar sites to yours to find worthy/willing sponsors.

2.) Donations. This is a little tricky but some good Samaritans will donate if they like what your site has to offer.

3.) (for performers) Merchandise. Like T-Shirts, Toys, Sticker packs and even... CD's!

[s-cat]

would be rather like me adding an extra song to the Sgt Pepper album and then contactling Paul McCartney and telling him i've modified his album so now i want him to agree that i was in the beatles and we should have a dual copyright.   

or maybe not.............

That is a silly comment. Think of it this way... When DJ's decided that they were musicians and started to record two tracks in the studio that belonged to two different artist and release it as a remix, then royalties would be collected by the original artists via the MCPS and PRS, the profit from sales of the records would then be given to the DJ after record label expenses. Or to make it easier to understand, I could rework one of your recordings and release it as a remix, you would not get paid for the sale of records but you would be able to claim royalties from the MCPS/PRS.

I hope that helps.

[s-cat]

I'm not into making money off my software and weird noises, but if I could pull down 30 quid a month it would cover my hosting...

It dosn't come to a surprise that the majority of today's artists have a day job as their main source of income and simply have the music (whatever they do) as a hobby. If you're interested in making money out of this hobby, here's a few tips:

We started to sell circuit bent machines in order to fuel our first love, which is recording music. We did not expect to have sold over 300 machines in the first two years. The money that we have made has now been invested back into our studio and there is no need for a dayjob.

[Illuminasty]

I'm not into making money off my software and weird noises, but if I could pull down 30 quid a month it would cover my hosting...

It dosn't come to a surprise that the majority of today's artists have a day job as their main source of income and simply have the music (whatever they do) as a hobby. If you're interested in making money out of this hobby, here's a few tips:

We started to sell circuit bent machines in order to fuel our first love, which is recording music. We did not expect to have sold over 300 machines in the first two years. The money that we have made has now been invested back into our studio and there is no need for a dayjob.

I take my hat off to you my friend 
Your comment re: MCPS/PRS. That's something I've barely touched on but I'll be looking into it deeper soon. I'll Need to register myself sooner or later and I'll need to look up what I can/can't do music wise...

[ZedAxis]

We started to sell circuit bent machines in order to fuel our first love, which is recording music. We did not expect to have sold over 300 machines in the first two years. The money that we have made has now been invested back into our studio and there is no need for a dayjob.

That's a good move & pleased to hear about it. I've misunderstood your motives in the past just coz you semed to be selling so much at high prices. Do you issue certificates of authenticity along with the individual numbering? So people are happy to get hold of a limited edition hand-made thing? I'm so crap at business/ legal things as it just gets in the way of doing what I reallly want coz I'm thinking about what others demand. You might not have the same predicament- but watch out before it turns everything shit.

I think you are trying to get recognition by posting so many replies on this board & it's bugging some people. The best form of promotion is to get a recognized artist using your stuff & then their followers(?) will all want one too - like those weevil circuit things with body contacts on.  Have you seen them things?

[s-cat]

We started to sell circuit bent machines in order to fuel our first love, which is recording music. We did not expect to have sold over 300 machines in the first two years. The money that we have made has now been invested back into our studio and there is no need for a dayjob.

That's a good move & pleased to hear about it. I've misunderstood your motives in the past just coz you semed to be selling so much at high prices.

We do sign and date each machine inside and of course add the copyright notice, we are now going to start issuing certificates with the machines. We post stuff on this site because we can and since it is about UK circuit bending it seems the place to do it, most of the post replies from us are due to people not understanding what we do and we feel that we have to set things straight.

We probably do sell to some well known artist but we do not ask who we are selling to and feel that our products are shifting at a nice steady rate and do not need to be endorsed to improve sales, but some people do like to name drop in order to get recognition.

Are you talking about the Delfy units?  We have seen the listings but not listened to them yet.