Does anyone have any knowledge or opinions regarding the status or usefulness of the UK Copyright Service? http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk
As there is no statutory advantage to registration in UK, unlike the US where registration facilitates claims for punitive damages, this seems to just be a rather costly way of proving that you're the copyright holder.
It's a bit offputting that UKCS seems to be trying to look like a Government 'service' rather than the commercial entity it is (Copyright Witness Ltd.).
This company operates under the name Copyright Witness in the USA. See http://www.copyrightwitness.com/
Does anyone know US law well enough to say whether Copyright Witness/UKCS has validity as an alternative to the US Government Copyright Office registration service? Because if so, registering work with UKCS might be much more convenient for UK photographers than jumping through US Copyright Office hoops.
I've looked into this and it is legit - UK Copyright Service is a partner of the British Library (see http://www.bl.uk/bipc/ourpartners/bycat/protideas/index.html) so they must be pretty well respected.
Actually the service seems to be quite open about what it does - it is a witnessing service. If you are not familiar with this concept - it means that they act as witness to the evidence of the date and content of your work and this CAN be helpful in a plagiarism case, particularly where the copier disputes the copyright claim. They operate under the name Copyright Witness outside the UK (NOT in the US at all as far as I can tell - in fact their site states that US Citizens should go to the US Copyright Office) - mmm... that's quite an apt name as it says exactly what it is they do. I found the site had lots of good information and very clear and open about their service (unlike some others I've seem).
Many people lodge a copy of their work with their solicitor or bank, and this works the same way. The big difference is that UK Copyright Service take steps to back up and secure your work against data-loss, fire, etc. and are a damn site cheaper than my solicitor :)
Your lawyer imay not be as smart as Getty's:
As you may know thousands of bills for retrospective licenses have been sent out by both Getty and Corbis, relating to images allegedly used without license by websites. These have asserted very high levels of fee in line with US statutory damages rather that UK peanuts even when they have involved UK based domains. They give 5 or 7 days to pay.
This is all discussed at great length in a panic-stricken and angry thread that is now 67 pages long and has been raging for over a year at the Federation of Small Business forums. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of these notices have gone to UK citizens.
Without exception these bills have not so far resulted in any court action. Getty seem to be trying to compel settlement rather than sue. They are using UK solicitors who are by all accounts very persistent. Some have paid but many of the accused are arguing - some claim to have legitimate licenses obtained elsewhere, others dispute the amounts (typically £1,500-£7,000) as bearing no relation to Getty's own prices for legitimate use, that there was no way they could know the origin of the images or their copyright status etc.
But there is an exception here, albeit from an anonymous poster:
Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't. Maybe web publications are able to be deemed to occur in the US if the site is visible in the US. Maybe Getty is building a class action against all the UK infringers who are arguing, which it will pursue later in the US courts...
Regards / Tony ©A moderator
US registration is well worthwhile, I've had several US infringements and if the work is registered you are in a very strong position. If not there is in practice little you can do. Most importantly in an action for infringement in the US you can only recover legal costs if the work is registered.
I'm currently looking for a US IP savvy lawyer so if anyone has a recommendation I'd be grateful, on or off list.
The US Copyright Office is currently trialling (in beta) an online registration system, I'm signed up but haven't yet had time to try it but it does look very promising.
David Hoffman
Hi Tony,
Interestingly, I asked a UK copyright solicitor this very question very recently. I've posted my question and his response below.
"Hello Mike,
I attended the seminar last week and wanted to ask you a specific question regarding copyright but didn't get the chance.
My question is specifically the registration of copyright.
As I understand it there no government led copyright office in the UK, unlike in the US. Services such as http://copyrightservice.co.uk/ are available, but I can only assume they act as a conduit to register work with the US copyright office on your behalf.
My question is this:
If I register my work with the US office (which provides International registration and accepts foreign applications) and I report an infringement found in the UK (or any country for that matter) can I assert statutory copyright damages as covered by US law? Secondly, if this assertion is valid or not would my case need to be taken up with a US or UK legal team?"
His response
"Your understanding is correct, in that in the UK we do not have a government body which registers copyright. Rather, under UK law the courts merely require the copyright owner to provide some evidence that a copyright work was created at a particular time by a particular person, and that that work is an original work (i.e. a work of independent effort, rather than having been copied from an existing work). There are various ways of providing such evidence, such as by depositing a copy of the work with a solicitor, by posting a copy of the work to oneself via special delivery, or by utilising the services of a third party such as the UK Copyright Service (which is a private business which merely provides copyright owners with independent evidence of creation of copyright works).
In the US, the law is similar in that there is no obligation to register a copyright work with the US Patent & Trademark Office. However, US law does offer an incentive to copyright owners to register their works, in that if a work is registered the copyright owner may claim punitive damages against an infringer of the copyright.
With regards to your question, essentially you are asking about conflict of laws. In general, an infringement action can only be brought in the country in which the infringement took place. Accordingly, if your copyright is infringed in the UK, you would need to bring an action through the UK courts and rely on UK law; US law would not have any application. US law would only apply if the infringement took place within the US. This is not to say that registration of the copyright work at the US PTO would not be relevant; on the contrary, if you have registered the work at the US PTO, this should constitute valuable evidence of your ownership of the copyright in the work. However, in an infringement action in the UK, you would not be entitled to punitive damages due to the copyright work having been registered at the US PTO, since the UK courts do not award punitive damages. Rather, the UK courts would simply apply their national rules and procedures to the action."
I think you're right about it being pointless, and having just done some digging, it seems registering with them is in no way equivalent to registering with the US Copyright Office.
It isn't necessary to register with the Copyright Office, but it expands the damages to can claim for. Without registration you can claim 'actual damages' = costs + profit, pretty much the same as under UK law. But if the infringement concerns a registered work you can claim 'statutory damages' instead, which range from $750 per work to $150,000 per work. Apparently US attorneys don't consider actual damages worth pursuing so it's hard to get them to take on a case unless it's a registered work and there's the lure of the much larger sum represented by statutory damages.
Regards / Tony ©A moderator
I saw that site a while ago now and it is pointless, just trying to make money from peoples ignorance, it offers no information that isn't available elsewhere for free and all you get for your money is the privelige of uploading/sending your work to them.
Not sure about US law enough to comment but on the odd occasion I've had to write to MySpace about abuse they've always honoured my comments on UK copyright and always removed any offending pictures without question, so not sure if it's even necessary to register with anyone in the US but it may depend on your situation.
Regards
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