Intellectual Property (IP)

Obtaining and sharing information online is so easy that it's not always obvious when we step over the legal line. IP is creative or intellectual work which can be considered as an asset or physical property, and the laws which protect IP are:

• copyright - writings and recordings
• trademarks - product or organisational branding
• design rights - the appearance of a product
• patents - industrial processes and inventions

More information about Intellectual Property: UK Copyright Service and How to try to avoid violating IP laws 

Copyright

Copyright is the legal protection that enables the creator of an original work to control how it is used. Copyright subsists in original works of all sorts, including:

• literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works
• web pages, computer programs, and databases
• sound recordings, films and broadcasts
• typographical arrangements of published editions
• images, diagrams, graphs and charts

As a student you you will probably need to search for digital content to adapt for your own purposes. The laws are not the same in every country; for the UK, please visit:

• Copyrightuser.org: Understanding rights, permissions and exceptions

• Information about IP Permissions (Download for reference)

"It's so easy to just grab stuff from the internet. You need to get in the habit of checking sources and citing everything. After all, you wouldn't want people nicking your stuff!" Marco, 1st-year student