Business mentor: It pays to do the homework on copyright laws

What do I need to know about copyright if I'm setting up a website for my business?

Online copyright infringement is a hot enforcement issue.

Many large copyright holders (particularly in the entertainment, music and book industries) are crying foul over the huge losses in potential revenue from unauthorised publication of copyright works over the internet.

Your website creates an invaluable opportunity to represent to the world your business and the products and services it offers, depending on whether you choose to sell your products and services or use the site to advertise.

Part of the attraction is the ability to capture and distribute so much information on the website.

Products can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, from simple graphics that reproduce packaging, to the use of more sophisticated digital media to demonstrate the product's capabilities.

Detailed product specifications can help customers make those important choices by reproducing manufacturer documentation, customer endorsements or even the latest favourable Consumers Institute report.

Value enhanced services can be provided by channelling customers through to related service providers and product distributors.

What some of us may forget is that, whereas you may have the necessary rights through ownership, distribution or licensing arrangements to display these products on the shelves of your physical retail store, those rights do not necessarily extend to the global publication, sale and distribution by you via your website.

In New Zealand the rules of copyright apply as equally to online activities as they do to offline activities.

If you do not own copyright in a particular work you are using then you can run the risk of infringing the rights of the copyright owner.

How does copyright work?

A website is typically comprised of many different works all of which may attract separate copyright.

For example, text, pictures, diagrams, music, and film can be all be captured on a website.

News stories, product specifications, product packaging (which is likely to include the use of trademarks), and links to related sites may all contain items in which others hold the copyright.

To minimise any risk of infringement you should identify the different works contained on your site and establish whether you have the necessary rights to carry those works.

The following points are useful to guide you through that process:

* Which of the various works on the site are owned by you?

* If you own the work, have you given any rights to the work to others - for example, if you manufacture a product, have you licensed the distribution rights to a third party? Are those distribution rights limited by territory/country or by media? Do they limit your ability to display or distribute your products on the internet?

Check the terms of the licence and when entering into such licences carefully consider their scope.

* If you do not own the work, what permission do you need to display it on your website? Who is the relevant owner or licensor?

Do you have some form of licence already? If so, what is the scope of the rights conveyed under that licence - does it expressly permit or restrict online distribution? Is it silent on the method of distribution but expressly limits your rights to within a particular city or country? Do you have the permission to modify the work in any way (for example, crop a photograph)?

It need not be complicated. For example, for an article you have downloaded from another site it may simply be a matter of checking that site's terms and conditions to ensure you are permitted to reproduce the article.

If you don't have permission, you should contact the relevant party indicated on the site or the site administrator.

Contact your product supplier and discuss the extent to which you can promote and/or sell the products online.

Be aware of:

* Using the logo, trade name or trade mark of a site you link to on your website as the channel marker without the owner or licensor's permission.

* Linking to a distributor or manufacturer in a way which implies you are an authorised reseller (or implies any sort of relationship or agency where none exists).

* Linking to related articles embedded within another site.

* Lisa Shadgett is a solicitor in the technology group at Russell McVeagh, Auckland.

Email: Lisa.Shadgett@RussellMcVeagh.com

* Send Mentor questions to: ellen_read@nzherald.co.nz. Answers will be given by Business in the Community's Business Mentor Programme.