Copyright law grants authors instant ownership of their work, which may include music, paintings, websites, designs, images, software, literature, or any other type of creative output, even without the legal registration of those creations on the author’s behalf. For that reason, creators and authors need to know how to effectively protect and defend their intellectual property rights by getting in touch with an experienced copyright lawyer.
A specialist copyright lawyer will be able to assess the best protection for each circumstance while explaining your intellectual property rights, licensing your copyright works, formalizing desired transfers of copyright, or handling any disputes involving copyrights. Copyright is not only important for artists or individuals; companies should be equally (or even more) concerned about protecting their copyrights. Every modern business will have to eventually deal with copyright matters, by using third-party assets or creating their copyright works.
This brings the necessity of every business to hire a competent copyright lawyer who knows how to stay compliant, avoid and prevent infringement and successfully exploit the business’ creative work while ensuring all protection mechanisms.
While most forms of intellectual property carry some level of protection and exclusive rights for creators, it is fair to say that copyrights are the broadest, as they apply to all original works of authorship not covered by trademark or patent law. For example, even if a computer program could not be protected as a trademark or as an invention (patent) if the program is considered an original work, the person or company that developed it will retain full copyright protection over the creation, use, exploitation, and transfer of that program.
As simple as it seems, copyrights can be drastically affected by several reasons and circumstances.
- If there are multiple authors involved in one same copyrighted work, respective rights can become less clear. If the created piece is interdependent or inseparable, for instance, the creation would be considered a joint work that both authors have equal rights over. Unless there’s a previous agreement in place, either copyright holder can commercially exploit the work and will be obliged to equally share the revenues.
- If the created work is or becomes part of something larger, the author will only retain rights over the specific contributions that were made and not over the entire creation. In these cases, the different contributions to the work are separable and do not need to be equally shared.
These difficult scenarios can put your copyrights at risk, making it necessary to seek the ongoing guidance of a copyright lawyer who will be your best ally in handling each of the complex situations that may arise.
Contact Seattle Firm TBillick Law PLLC for Copyright Protection
Tim Billick has more than a decade of experience in copyright law and will assess your legal concerns with the attention and professionality you need to protect your intellectual property rights. If you have creative works that require copyright protection and would like to discuss your protection objectives, options, or any other intellectual property matter, contact TBillick Law PLLC at 206-494-0020 or use our convenient online form to request a consultation.
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