Just a polite reminder to the US Orchidians not to assume that US
copyright laws govern the entire world. Every country has thier own
copyright laws, and while many countries (I think over 190)
recognize the US copyright rules for entities in their countries who
violate the US copyright laws, the copyright rules for Orchidians as
the original artists living in other countries are quite different.
The original poster of this thread lives in Ireland. The Irish
copyright law were revised in 2000, the text of that law is 205
pages long, and can be found at http://www.gov.ie/bills28/acts/2000/a2800.pdf. Therefore much of
the advice that has been given is COMPLETELY INACCURATE AND
IRRELEVANT. She needs to either contact an attorney, the Copyright
Association of Ireland (www.cai.ie) or the Patents Office in
Kilkenny (phone +353 56 7720111)
Its really a smoke screen idea, because we all know that you
cant really protect your work all someone has to do is change one
simple detail and there goes your copyright.
If you want to protect your general designs, as opposed to
individual pieces, you would have to register your designs. The law
in Ireland is probably slightly different even from the UK but the
first place to ask about this would be the Patent Office in Dublin
But it might put someone off copying my work exactly, so its
worth a shot. The question is would it be breaking Irish copyright
law by adding that symbol?
I suspect, given the way the EU writes laws, that you may be
breaking the law by not putting marks on. Judging by the amount of
wire you must use, you should have your pieces hallmarked if you are
selling them as ‘silver’. If they are not marked, they can only be
sold as ‘white metal’ even though you know that they are silver.
Its really a smoke screen idea, because we all know that you
cant really protect your work all someone has to do is change one
simple detail and there goes your copyright.
This concept is essentially false. If they COPY your work and only
change a detail or two–or maybe even 10 dozen–then it will still be
a violation of your copyright. In the US the concept is called
“derivative works” and the copyright owner has the right to restrict
them; the concept may have other names in other countries but it has
to exist otherwise “copyright” would be meaningless. However, if
someone creates their own work using your general techniques even if
their work comes out exactly like yours they haven’t violated your
copyright—of course the legal contest to get a court decision one
way or the other for a specific case could be much more expensive
than is worth it to either of you.
But it might put someone off copying my work exactly, so its
worth a shot. The question is would it be breaking Irish copyright
law by adding that symbol?
I’ll bet not. Please report back to us exactly what you find in the
Irish law. Many parts of the international copyright conventions are
effectively NOT at the discretion of individual countries that agree
to the convention or treaty. Here is a link to the WIPO FAQ on
registration: http://wipo.int/copyright/en/faq/faqs.htm#P81_9657. My
understanding is that the “no formalities” required for protection
means you are free to use the c-in-a-circle symbol without government
permission. Ireland is a full member of the Berne Convention but not
yet a ratified member of the WCT.