Below are some facts to note about Copyright and its impact on your business:

• Copyright is a valuable IP right for business and provides tangible benefits when it is correctly managed
• In small business copyright laws may apply across your documents, pro-formas, promotional material and web content, software programs or training programs written Creation of materials associated with the business affected by Copyright may come from the business owners, staff, suppliers, contractors etc
• Anything created associated to your business will fall under copyright laws
• Copyright law is currently the life of the creator plus 50 years and in Australia there are no registration processes available for copyright
• Copyright only protects the original expression of ideas or information in a material form and will be considered original if it is the creator’s own intellectual effort that has not been copied from other source
• Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, facts, systems, themes, methods, styles or techniques
• In Australia, there is no formal registration or copyright notice requirements required however copyright notices on your work are a good practice to undertake as you are clearly indicating that you are the owner of the copyright of the work at a particular time. Use the (c) symbol, the name of the copyright owner and the year of creation or first publication
• Copyright materials may be eligible for other types of intellectual property protection
• Copyright owners should regard their copyright items as an Intellectual Property Asset associated with their business and keep dated copies of work that establish ownership
• Copyright is a knowledge based asset that can be sold and licensed. All agreements and exclusive licenses should be in writing and signed by or on behalf of the copyright owner
• Injunctions, damages, criminal penalties and customs seizures are available as remedies for the infringement of copyright

For more information on copyright and the impact intellectual property has an asset within your business, Wendy Fogarty from I&IBS in conjunction with the WEA Illawarra will be running a 3 hour workshop in April, May and June as a taster of a new IP Australia VET Training Program that will commence later in the year. To attend the launch or to register for one of the workshops please contact Kerrie Smith on 42 261622.