UK copyright Issue

[PeteWhite]

Hi all,

This isn't strictly relating to small business but I hope you can help anyway.

I run a web-site promoting a proposed bypass around my town http://www.bypassnow.info which, as you can see, has a graphic title.

A rival web-site has taken the graphic, altered it, and used it on their own web-site http://www.westbury-wilts-bypass.info/funding.html

My web-site has a copyright notice on the main page stating that any use of graphics should be authorised before use, there was no contact from the rival web-site.

I e-mailed the rival web-site last week politely asking him to remove the graphic, so far he has ignored the e-mails and has continued to use the graphic.

Do I now have a case to start charging him a licence fee? (Not that I want money, just want him to remove the graphic, and threatening to hit his wallet sounds like the best way to do it).

Thanks in advance.

Pete

[trainershack]

was your graphic written in a readily available font or was it designed individually?

[PeteWhite]

Originally Posted by trainershack

was your graphic written in a readily available font or was it designed individually?

It was written in a readily available font, one of the free ones that comes with Windows (Arial Black to be exact).

Pete

[trainershack]

well my understanding of this situation would be that what you have written ie. "Westbuty Byepass Now" is copyrited to yourself as you have published it, however the logo itself is not. to stop anyone else using your logo you would have to register it as a trademark through the patent office. this would take up to six months and cost you around £200.

this is just my understanding however!

[Eagle]

 
Confusion reigns!

You don't have to register anything as a trademark in order to hold copyright over it. Copyright belongs to the originator of any work, is enshrined in UK law and is automatic from the outset.

The case of your 'logo' however... Well, it's not exactly a logo per se. Just some words. It's entirely possible that the graphic was taken from your site and edited but equally possible that they just did the same thing (and made a really bad job of it too!).

You could pursue it through the courts but is it really worth the effort in this case?

Mark

[PeteWhite]

Originally Posted by Eagle

...It's entirely possible that the graphic was taken from your site and edited but equally possible that they just did the same thing (and made a really bad job of it too!)

LOL yes, that is possible. However, if you look closely at the right hand edge of the graphic, you can tell that it has been cropped (got my magnifying glass out!). So I'm 100% certain that it was taken from my site. What's really cheesing me off is that last year he insinuated that I had breached copyright by displaying Ordnance Survey Maps on my site. The fact that I hold a valid licence from OS to do that didn't really matter to him!

Pete

[Snorkerz]

I've looked at their logo - and I agree that the remnants of your W are visible in the top right hand corner of their logo.

You might want to email UK2.net who registered the site (and presumably host it) with this info, and ask them to withdraw the site until the issue is solved.

[bizNorthEast.co.uk]

just ring him up, he probably dosent check/answer his emails.