Page 96 - Law and the Media

Copyright
Copyright in sound recordings, films, broadcasts and cable programmes under the CDPA will
last for 70 years from the end of the calendar year it was made or released.

Public domain
Once copyright has expired, the work enters the public domain. Anyone is free to deal with
the work as they choose. There is no need to pay a licence fee or obtain permission from the
owner. This can result in a sudden rush of different editions of the work of a particular author.
It can also have financial consequences. For example, the Great Ormond Street Children’s
Hospital received a large amount of money from the copyright of J. M. Barrie’s book Peter
Pan. This source of money stopped when copyright expired at the end of 1987, and resulted
in serious financial consequences for the hospital.

Older works
Older works are subject to transitional provisions in the CDPA. Whether such works can be
revived or extended is a complex matter that usually requires specialist legal advice.

3.8 Remedies

3.8.1 Injunctions

Interim injunctions and permanent injunctions are available in actions for breach of
copyright. The principles and practice are similar to those applicable in other civil actions
(see Chapter 1).

3.8.2 Damages

The calculation for damages for breach of copyright is complicated. Damages are not
available from a defendant who did not know or had no reason to believe that copyright
existed in the work infringed.

Under the CDPA, three different types of damages are available:

1. Infringement damages
2. Flagrant damages
3. Account of profits.

Infringement damages
Infringement damages are intended to compensate the claimant for the damage done to his
interest. It is reparation for the owner to put him into the position he would have been in had
the copyright not been infringed. These damages are normally calculated as the reasonable
licence fee the defendant would have had to pay the claimant for the right to do what he
did.
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