Copyright Protection Services

Briffa are highly regarded intellectual property solicitors who specialise in copyright protection and infringement. We help those in the creative industries to protect their work from copying, whether wholly or substantially. Our recent copyright cases include music industry copyright disputes, book publishing contracts, computer game publishing agreements and artist’s resale rights. Whatever your requirements for copyright law assistance, we can help.

If you believe your copyright has been infringed, experienced legal advice ought to be taken at an early stage. This is especially the case when significant sums are at stake. Briffa has been helping individuals, organisations and personalities protect their copyrighted work for over twenty-five years. We have dealt with many cases involving infringement of copyright and can offer useful advice and support and help you to take action to strategically protect your brand.

If you need industry-recognised lawyers for copyright advice, get in touch below to book a free consultation.

Copyright arises automatically on creation and does not need to be specifically registered in the UK or Europe.
There is a common misapprehension that including the copyright symbol on an item has some legal significance. It doesn’t except to the extent that it puts the viewer or reader on notice that copyright is being asserted. To that extent, it is useful and worth including in most cases.
Copyright confers the right of the owner to prevent others from copying their work. It does not stifle the independent creation of works.

It is vital to keep records of your creative process when undertaking or creating new works in case of theft or copying. In software, you should include “footprints”, such as a deliberate mistake that can uniquely identify you as the author. Electronic imagery and videos should have watermarks or comments to assert ownership. When working on any new work you should keep a full dated record of all your background work from the first scribbles on the back of an envelope to the finished piece.

A person infringes your copyright if they copy your work wholly or substantially. In some cases, copying is obvious, but most cases that end up in court are not so clear. There is no hard and fast rule to proving copyright infringement; that’s why it’s vital to seek experienced legal advice as soon as possible when you suspect that your work has been copied. Briffa has dealt with many cases involving this issue. We can offer a useful insight into the court process, assess the opponent and the potential loss and then recommend the right enforcement action to protect your brand.

Briffa has assisted clients from a wide variety of sectors with enforcing their copyright claims. Recently, we have acted on behalf of music industry professionals to address disputes over the copying of music between artists and managers/publishers. We have aided book publishers with contracts and disputes and drawn up publishing agreements and licenses for computer games. Our expert team of copyright solicitors has also aided artists with resale rights, protected graphic designers from the copying of designs and, on several occasions, addressed issues of employee copyright breach where former employees seek to set up in competition.

Browse our case studies to discover more about Briffa’s most recent work, from drafting the contracts for a games development publishing deal to managing employee breach of contract.