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Copyright theft and video piracy

Copyright theftTheft of copyright is criminalised by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988), the Trade Marks Act 1994 (TMA 1994) and the Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA 1984). It may also be prosecuted under the Fraud Act 2006 (FrA 2006) or as a conspiracy under the Criminal Law Act 1977 or under the common law conspiracy to defraud. See Practice Note: Conspiracy.Copyright theft may be prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service or trading standards. Investigations may involve HM Revenue and Customs, the UK Border Agency and the National Crime Agency.Most offences under CDPA 1988 (those in CDPA 1988, ss 107(1)(a)–107(1)(b), 107(1)(d)(iv) and 107(1)(e)) are either-way offences, ie they may be tried both in the magistrates' court and the Crown Court. These are viewed as more serious offences as they involve making, importing for rental or sale, or distributing items through a business or otherwise, that would affect the owner of the copyright prejudicially. The offence of infringing copyright in a work by communicating the work to the...

Copyright in designs

This Practice Note examines the complex relationship between copyright and designs. For more information about designs law and copyright law, see: Design transactions and management—overview and Copyright & associated rights—overview.Prior to the implementation of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988), copyright was the principal means of protecting rights in industrial articles. One of the intentions behind CDPA 1988 was to limit the application of copyright to industrially commercialised designs and introduce an unregistered design right in the UK (often referred to as 'design right'). For a visual summary of the role of CDPA 1988 copyright provisions, see: Application of copyright law to designs—flowchart below.Authors of artistic works that are applied industrially may not be able to rely on copyright but instead may rely upon design right or registered design(s). However, copyright remains a means of protecting:•original design drawings•rights in designs of three-dimensional objects that are considered artistic works under CDPA 1988•surface decoration applied to industrial articlesRelevant legislation and key cases•CDPA 1988 (as amended by the Enterprise and...

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Consultancy agreement—company and individual—pro-client (short form)

Consultancy agreement—company and individual—pro-client (short form) [ON HEADED NOTEPAPER OF CLIENT COMPANY] [Insert consultant’s name] [Insert consultant’s address] [Insert date] Dear [insert consultant’s name] [ Consultancy agreement OR Insert name of project ] Further to our recent discussions, I am pleased to confirm the terms of our agreement regarding the provision of your consultancy services to [insert name of client company] (Company). 1 Term 1.1 [Subject to the terms set out in this letter, your engagement [will commence OR commenced] on [insert date] and will continue unless or until either party gives to the other not less than [insert number] [weeks’ OR months’] prior notice in writing. OR 1.2 Your engagement will be for a fixed period of [insert number] months from [insert date], subject to the terms of this letter and subject to the right of either the Company or you to give to the other not less than [number] [weeks’ OR months’] notice in writing during such fixed period terminating the...

Letter of claim—peer-to-peer copyright infringement

Letter of claim—peer-to-peer copyright infringement Letter of claim [Alleged infringer’s name and address] [Date] Dear [insert organisation name] Copyright infringement: [Name and description of copyright works] We are writing on behalf of [name and address of client] (‘our client’). We are writing to you about your activities and actions, which amount to an infringement of our client’s copyright. [Name of client] Our client operates in [describe: eg the computer games industry; what the copyright owner does; who in the company produces the copyright works, if relevant, how they are employed and what the copyright work is. Define or give the name of the copyright work]. Our client is the [owner OR owner-assignee OR non-exclusive licensee OR exclusive licensee] of copyright in the copyright work, a copy of which is available for inspection at our offices on request. [In accordance with section 11(2) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988), our client owns the copyright subsisting in the copyright work because it is...

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Court can impose both a fine and custodial sentence in civil contempt cases (Phonographic Performance Ltd v Andrew Ellis t/a Bla Bla Bar)

IP analysis: The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) in which it sought additional damages under section 97(2) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988) against a copyright infringer who had also been given a suspended custodial sentence for contempt as a result of breaching an injunction to restrain copyright infringement. While the court dismissed the appeal based on the facts and in exercise of its discretion, it held that there was no reason in principle why a court could not both fine a contemnor and issue a custodial sentence. As part of its deliberations, the court clarified the nature of damages under CDPA 1988, s 97(2) as sui generis and held that there had been no error in drawing an analogy between such damages and a fine.