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This is a copyright policy issued by an employer to apply at the workplace. It sets the procedures and expectations to be followed by employees whenever dealing with copyright in the course of their employment.
Copyright Policy
Statement:
acknowledges that copyright is a valuable part of 's intellectual property portfolio.
To ensure that it can maintain, use and protect its copyright, the company expects all members of staff to act in compliance with this copyright policy.
This copyright policy is not part of a member of staff’s contract of employment and can be amended at any time.
Any breach of this copyright policy is a serious indiscretion and may result in disciplinary action.
People covered by this policy
This policy is applicable to all persons working for at all levels, including directors, senior managers, employees, consultants, part-time, and casual staff (collectively, hereinafter referred to as staff throughout the rest of this policy)
What is covered by the policy?
This copyright policy applies to all original work created by or contracted for development by the company and its members of staff including, but not limited to .
Establishing copyright protection
Upon creation, the author should mark all original works, whether draft or final versions, with the following:
“This original work was created by [NAME], [JOB TITLE], on [DATE]”
If possible, each piece of original work should be signed by the author. Complete records shall be established and maintained for the storage and easy access to copyright records. This recordal system shall be maintained by .
The following information should be recorded in the recordal system:
-Notes outlining the key stages or development along with the staff involved in each respective stage
-All draft designs or works which demonstrate the development of the work
-Any emails, letters, meeting minutes or other internal correspondence relevant to the development of the work
-Date of publication (if published)
-Details of the author (including name, position, job title etc)
Use of copyright notice
If original work created by a member of staff is to be published, a copyright notice shall be included such as:
“© [year of publication], [full name of copyright owner]”
If such a work is updated, changed, or amended in any way, the original date and date of update, change or amendment shall be included in the copyright notice.
Ownership of copyright in work created by employees
The ’s employment agreements govern ownership of copyright (and other intellectual property rights) and situations whereby an employee produces original work during the course of employment.
Third parties and copyright
If a member of staff commissions work from a third party, the member of staff should discuss with the to discuss whether any action is needed to maintain ownership and protect any resultant copyright. It should also be considered whether any assignment, license or other form or arrangement regarding the copyright is required.
The should maintain complete records of any contractual arrangements, such as assignments and licenses, agreed to with third-party contractors.
Third-party copyright
Staff should respect third-party copyright when carrying out their duties. Members of staff should, during the course of their employment, duly consider whether any third-party copyright applies to any resource, whether in electronic or hard copy form.
Members of staff should refrain from using any resource, the use of which would constitute an infringement of third-party copyright.
Actual or Suspected Copyright Infringement
If a member of staff becomes aware or reasonably believes that there has been an infringement, by a third party, of ’s copyright, that member of staff should promptly inform the with details of the infringement.
If a member of staff reasonably believes there has been copyright infringement by a colleague of a third party’s rights, they should promptly notify .
Dealing with Requests to Use or Reproduce the Company’s Work
Any requests, whether internal or external, to use or replicate any of the company’s resources or works should be referred to for deliberation.
The shall keep records of any licenses or other forms of consent given in response to any requests made by any persons.
