Patent Office

Frequently Asked Questions about copyright

[how to protect copyright]

• How is a hand made drawing protected?
• How is an architectural work protected?
• How can the copyright of intellectual material be protected? And in the case of software?
• Is it sufficient filing a deposit at the SIAE to protect an imaginary character?
• I have in mind to write a fairy tales book, made up of text and drawings, which I would like to present to a publisher. How can I do it without incurring the risk of being copied?
• How can the idea of a television programme be protected?
• What precautions must be taken before publishing a book?
• How can a fantasy character be protected? Can its name be registered?

[title to the copyright]

• Must royalties be paid to a singer to make him into a poster?
• Who is the owner of a romance and what rights are there over translation of it?
• Who get the rights over a screenplay? How can I avoid that the director and the producer, who want to sign an agreement with me, don’t claim all rights?
• Is it possible to use the book translation of an author dead for more than two hundreds years, and simply mentioning the author and the translator’s names without paying royalties to anyone?

[cases]

• How do rights over musical pieces work, and particularly the MP3?
• What does the writing “COPYRIGHT, all the rights reserved to the author” mean?
• My girlfriend has a very particular eyes iris diaphragm and we have photographed it with an appropriate camera, to be applied on t-shirts. Can we get the exclusivity on the image use?
• I am the owner of an office dealing with three-dimensional graphic; I make three-dimensional drawings, photomontages and virtual animations for professionals such as architects, interior designers, advertisers, and any entrepreneur wanting to represent in a virtual way a project. What I would like to know is who has the copyright over the images and filming I produce for these people, bearing in mind that I produce them on the basis of their indications and their projects.
• We have made a serial of innovative modules and we would like to protect them. We have been told that it is sufficient writing underneath “copyright” followed by our name. Is it true? Is this kind of precaution enough?
• Is the comparative advertising allowed?
• I love painting as a hobby and I have sold some paintings. Now one of my buyers wants to make prints with my paintings: can he do it? How can I claim ownership for each painting?
• A few days ago I discovered that one of my stories, for nearly four years already on the web, has been published on a paying site, without my authorisation and with someone else’s ownership. I immediately took care of informing the site Webmaster and he corrected the authorship, but he does not want to publish a note in the home page to warn he readers of the mistake and of the correction made. Can I impose it on him by law to defend my moral rights?
• I always had many ideas on businesses and projects to start, but then I am not in the position to realise them. Could I, in some way, “sell” them to others, remaining their partners, provided that I contribute in the starting expenses? How can I protect my right of “ownership” on these ideas?