Why proofreading course students learn copyright

We encourage our proofreading course students to check images for copyright restrictions. Mistakes can be expensive – even if they’re innocent ones.

Our distance learning proofreading and editing course reminds students not to take any risks.

Online copyright breaches are easy to find these days, and image owners are quicker to claim damages.

Our warnings have taken on even greater significance following a recent decision by the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC).

Judge Richard Hacon ruled that a company who lifted photos from another site should pay the original license fee, plus an additional £6,000 because their actions were “flagrant”.

The ruling under section 97 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act is not binding, as each case is different. But the case gives a useful pointer on how courts will deal with similar cases in the future.

People who copy other people’s photos on their websites should take note. Some bloggers, journalists and marketers are prepared to gamble, hoping they will only have to pay the copyright licence fee if they are caught.

Judge Hacon’s ruling goes further, and means that copying and pasting images is flagrant and expensive.

See our proofreading courses