Legal Issues on Printed Materials - Coursework Example

Legal issues relating to printed business materials Introduction Advertising is a challenging industry because of the increased involvement of creativity and variety of projects. Desktop publishing is an essential part of advertising activities which needs thorough professionalism and better awareness about the existing laws. Copyright, privacy and misleading advertising involve lot of legal issues which should be taken into consideration by the desktop publishers before publishing anything for internal or external use. Intellectual property rights are preserved in every country legally because of its importance. “Intellectual property (IP) is the general name given to the laws covering patents, trademarks, copyright, designs, circuit layouts, and plant breeder’s rights. “IP Australia recently reviewed production of the Journals. This review resulted in the decision to cease production of paper versions of the Journals, with new electronic versions being freely available on IP Australia’s website” (Cessation of Paid Advertising in IP Australia’s Official Journals Effective 26th May 2005, n.d) “It is an important part of almost any business as it can apply to confidential information, designs and inventions that contribute to the success of the business” (Intellectual Property, n.d) A desktop publisher must have good knowledge about the existing laws related to copyright, privacy and misleading advertising in order to avoid possible disputes. This paper briefly analyse the essentials a desktop publisher know about the Australian laws regarding copyright, privacy and misleading advertising. Legal issues relating to copyright “Copyright is part of an area of law known as intellectual property. Intellectual property law protects the property rights in creative and inventive endeavours and gives creators and inventors certain exclusive economic rights, generally for a limited time, to deal with their creative works or inventions” (What is intellectual property?, 2008) The purpose of copyright is to encourage people (creators of certain new things which is useful to the society) to contribute more to the wellbeing of the society. Such contributors will get some financial benefits when other people use his contributions which will encourage him to search for more new things useful to the society. ‘The primary end of the law on copyright is to give to the author of a creative work his just reward for the benefit he has bestowed on the community and also to encourage the making of further creative works’ (Copyright purposes and sources, 2009) Desktop publishers while preparing designs, captions and illustrations must make sure that they are not violating the copyright law existing in their country of operation. Copyright law is applicable to the internally circulated materials as well as externally circulated ones. As per the 1968 Australian copyright act –sect 10, copywriter must sufficiently acknowledge the property of others while citing them in their works with the permission of the intellectual property owners. "Sufficient acknowledgement”, in relation to a work, means an acknowledgement identifying the work by its title or other description and, unless the work is anonymous or pseudonymous or the author has previously agreed or directed that an acknowledgement of his or her name is not to be made, also identifying the author (Commonwealth Consolidated Acts, n.d) Advertising is an industry which involves lot of creative works like designs, illustrations etc. The designers must make sure that their designs may not have any resemblance with any other designs which is already entered the market. “The Designs Act 2003 grants protection to the visual appearance or design of a manufactured article if it is new or original. It protects the features of shape, pattern or ornamentation applied to an article. Protection is based on a system of registration and can last for up to 10 years” (What is intellectual property?, 2008) If a copyright owner feels that his creations have been imitated by somebody, he can seek the legal advice to protect his creations or getting compensation for it. “A copyright owner can approach a person infringing copyright to seek redress. It is best to seek legal advice. Where enforcement is required it is generally done in the court system” (How can copyright rights be enforced?, 2008) Legal issues relating to privacy Privacy is another important issue which has to be considered by the desktop publishers while creating their creations. Privacy is a personal matter which all the human beings like to preserve. Intrusion into other’s private matters is legally prohibited in majority of the countries. Privacy is conserved as far as it does not cause hindrance to the public interest. Criminals like antisocial elements cannot argue for their privacy since their activities need to be constantly monitored by the authorities to save the public. On the other hand the privacy of a normal citizen has been conserved legally by the Australian laws. Australia’s “The Privacy Act 1988” deals with the protection of personal information, The Privacy Act 1988 and the Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) it established, was generally limited in operation to Commonwealth agencies within the public sector. However, the individual’s right to privacy is not an absolute right. In some circumstances, it must be weighed against the interests of others and against matters that benefit society as a whole (Guidelines approved under Section 95A of the Privacy Act 1988, 2001, p.1) “Principle 3 of the Privacy Act concerns the collection of personal information from individuals. It requires an agency to notify individuals of the purpose for collecting the information, and the intended recipients of the information, among other things” (New Zealand Privacy Commissioner Case Notes, 2008) Personal data collected from individuals must be used with the permission from the individuals concerned in printed materials or advertising materials. “The information required for the completion of IP Australias electronic filing forms is required for the consideration of applications and includes the name of the owner of the IP Right, the address of the rights owner and the address provided for postal correspondence in Australia. This information will be published in the Australian Official Journals and made available on IP Australias databases, both on-line within IP Australia and via the Internet” (Privacy Policy, 2009) Australian laws regarding the privacy conservation can be summarised as follows; An organization must not collect personal information unless it is necessary for its business activities An organization must advise individuals why they are collecting personal information and to whom it may be disclosed An organization must not use or disclose personal information about an individual for a purpose other than that for which it was collected unless such use or disclosure would be reasonably expected and is related to the original purpose of collection; Certain information can be used for direct marketing but only if it is impractical to seek the individuals consent beforehand and if other prescribed conditions are met An organization must take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information which it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date Reasonable steps must be taken to protect personal information from misuse or loss An organization must take reasonable steps to let a person know what sort of personal information it holds With some exceptions, an organization must provide an individual with access to personal information held in relation to that individual With some exceptions, personal information may only be transferred to someone in a foreign country if that country has privacy laws similar to the National Privacy Principles. (AUSTRALIA’S NEW PRIVACY LAWS -WHAT LAWYERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR OWN PRACTICES, 2001) Legal issues relating to misleading advertising Advertising is the core of every marketing activity. Marketing operations cannot yield the desired result in the absence of creative advertising techniques. In fact, even good quality products fail in the market due to inadequate and inefficient advertising activities whereas cheaper quality products can excel with the help of challenging advertising methods. Advertising activities are often misleading the people with respect to the quality and functioning of the products. But the consumers have the right to know the right thing about a product through from the advertisements. In other words, misleading advertisements were also prohibited by law in Australia and in most of the other countries. “No matter how a business communicates with you—whether it is through packaging, advertising, logos, endorsements or sales pitch—you have the right to receive accurate and truthful messages about the goods and services that you buy” (Advertising & marketing, 2008) “If the overall impression left by an advertisement, promotion, quotation, statement or other representation made by a business creates a misleading impression in your mind—such as to the price, value or the quality of any goods and services—then the conduct is likely to breach the law” (Misleading & deceptive conduct, 2008) Advertising is a mean to make the public aware of the real features about the product or service offered by the manufacturer rather than misleading them or cheating them with confusing adverting activities. Conclusions Australia values intellectual rights and privacy rights more than any other country in the world. The laws and punishment regarding the copyright, privacy and misleading adverting are tough in Australia which shows that the desktop publishers must take extreme care while preparing their designs, lay outs, captions, etc. Intellectual property right is accepted like a basic human right issue in Australia. Awareness about these laws is essential for a desktop publisher to avoid future disputes and legal problems. References 1. Advertising & marketing, (2008), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml?itemId=815331&Go.x=8&Go.y=6 2. AUSTRALIA’S NEW PRIVACY LAWS -WHAT LAWYERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR OWN PRACTICES, (2001), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/shadomx/apps/fms/fmsdownload.cfm?file_uuid=01F03019-1C23-CACD-22B6-58F806A09922&siteName=lca 3. Cessation of Paid Advertising in IP Australia’s Official Journals Effective 26th May 2005, (n.d), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/pdfs/news/cessation%20of%20paid%20advertising.pdf 4. Copyright purposes and sources, (2009), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.copyright.org.au/information/cit016/wp0013 5. Commonwealth Consolidated Acts, (n.d), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s10.html#computer_program 6. Guidelines approved under Section 95A of the Privacy Act 1988, (2001), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/LegislativeInstrument1.nsf/0/8C3403988EB83C4CCA25744A00198EAD/$file/s.95A+Guidelines.pdf 7. How can copyright rights be enforced?, (2008), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Copyright_Howcancopyrightrightsbeenforced 8. Intellectual Property, (n.d), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.business.gov.au/Business+Entry+Point/Business+Topics/Intellectual+property/ 9. Misleading & deceptive conduct, (2008), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/815335 10. New Zealand Privacy Commissioner Case Notes, (2008), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/nz/cases/NZPrivCmr/2008/14.html?query=^advertising 11. Privacy Policy, (2009), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/about/site_privacy.shtml 12. What is intellectual property?, (2008), Retrieved on 24 August 2009 from http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Copyright_Whatisintellectualproperty Read More