A: Under the UK Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988, copyright protection is automatic and immediate, as long as the creator of the work puts them down in a tangible form, and the work is original.  Copyright is assigned to the creator / author of the work at the time of creation, it lasts the life of the creator / author, and – depending on the type of work they create – up to seventy years after they die.

Copyright gives the creator / author of a copyrighted work ownership rights to grant third parties permission to copy their work, or sell or licence their work to a third party, and in the event of infringement, block the sale of infringing works and seek restitution from the infringing party through legal action.

Works protected by copyright are defined the following way:

(a) original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works,
(b) sound recordings, films or broadcasts, and
(c) the typographical arrangement of published editions.

However, while this covers a lot of material, this doesn’t cover ideas.  Copyright only covers the expression of an idea, not the idea itself.

It should also be understood that automatic creation of copyright under law – even while it allows you the privileges of ownership and the exclusive right to sell and licence your work – does not in itself stop infringement happening.  In that sense it is not like a bank vault.  It is however the tool which allows you, through your ownership rights, to stop infringers from profiting from their activities and to seek restitution from them.

A: That’s not how it works.  In fact, any registration service that tells you registration must occur to bring copyright into effect is wrong.

Copyright creation and registration are two distinct things.

Copyright

You see, in a nutshell, under the Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988, copyright protection is automatic and immediate, as long as the creator of the work puts them down in a tangible form, and the work is original.  Copyright is assigned to the creator / author of the work at the time of creation.

Our Registration Service

What we do is offer an independent third party registration service for owners of copyrighted works.  Were you to get involved in a copyright dispute, lawyers for the infringing party will likely attempt to discredit any evidence you submit, claiming that you may have simply altered your work after the fact in order to make a claim of infringement.  It is vital then you can establish just when your work was created.  And the secure, on-line nature of the duly noted® registration process does just that; any file you upload to us you cannot alter.  Thereafter, should you then make a claim of copyright breach (that someone is copying/using your work without permission/payment), the information we give – that on the date your work was registered with us it was in your possession and in a certain state, backed up by the original uploaded file itself – will be just that evidence you need to help you fight your corner.

Now if one has this data, along with additional evidence about the development of the work from its inception to completion which helps identify you as the author (as may well be required in a court), and you can show that the infringing party had the means, motive and opportunity to steal your work, you could make a case against them.  It should however be noted that the outcome of any case would depend on other factors well outside the arena of any hardcopy evidence we provide, so we cannot of course guarantee a court ruling in your favour.

In any event, third party registration is about providing unbiased, verifiable evidence, and that’s what duly noted® does.

If you wish to register your work with us, you can begin by clicking here.

A: Sadly, no. While the very creation of a work, i.e. recording it in any appropriate medium (like writing a story, painting a picture), grants automatic copyright protection, and while by placing the © symbol on a work its creator is stating their claim of copyright ownership, this in itself is not proof. And though the © symbol allows you to give fair notice to the world of your copyright claim (which means infringers can’t use the excuse they didn’t know), what with the potential revenue that can be earned by the correct exploitation of the right intellectual property, some unscrupulous people may remain undeterred by the © symbol.

That being the case, if you had to prosecute an infringer or even defend yourself against someone who claims you’ve breached their copyright there are ways in addition to the © notice that you can help yourself provide evidence you created and own your work:

• Keep previous drafts, notes or preliminary drawings, signed and dated, demonstrating the development of the work from idea through to finished version.
• Keep correspondence (letters, faxes, emails) with and from third parties about the work in question.
• Register your copyright of work with the duly registered™ service, provided duly noted®.

And we still advise our clients to use the copyright © notice. Simply place the copyright © symbol on your work along with the date of its first publication and your name (or the year of creation if it is still unpublished). It is a useful, universally recognised notice of ownership.

A: There are two reasons:

Firstly, because we’re neutral. Fact is, you could well get your family or friends to vouch for you in the case of an infringement. And though their evidence would be truthful, it may be argued in court that they’d naturally back you up regardless, and their evidence could consequently be called into question. However, because at duly noted® we don’t know you, have no ties with you, so have no vested interest in supporting your position, that means we will simply provide the facts.

Second and most importantly, were you to get involved in a copyright dispute, lawyers for the infringing party will likely attempt to discredit any evidence you submit, claiming that you may have simply altered your work after the fact in order to make a claim of infringement. It is vital then you can establish just when your work was created. And the secure, on-line nature of the duly noted® registration process does just that; any file you upload to us you cannot alter. Thereafter, should you then make a claim of copyright breach, the information we give – that on the date your work was registered with us it was in your possession and in a certain state, backed up by the original uploaded file itself – will be just that evidence you need.

Third party registration is about providing unbiased, verifiable evidence, and that’s what duly noted® does.

A: Banks and law firms are trusted, viable options, sure. However, where duly noted® comes into its own over these institutions is;

• Registration is quick. With our duly registered™ service, no queuing or appointments are necessary, lawyers don’t have to be engaged, their terms negotiated, nor their fees agreed. And you don’t have to explain what it is youre registering. At duly noted®, we know your time is valuable. Registration takes just five minutes, then you’re done!
• We register on-line. No need to wait till your lunch break to charge over to your lawyer or bank to hand over your work. And no sweating whether your package will reach them or not in the post. With duly noted®, you can register from the comfort of your home.
• No lengthy paperwork. How long will it take you to fill in all the forms to obtain your own safe deposit box? With duly noted®, we just need to know who you are, and you’re ready to go!
• We’re open 24/7. We don’t restrict you to the nine to five. If you finish your latest masterpiece at 4am in the morning, can you hand it over to your lawyer or bank for registering there and then? You can at duly noted®. And you can check the status of all your registrations with us any time by accessing your personal Your NOTED! member page.
• Copyright registration is why we’re here. Banks and law firms will have other priorities and duties to take care of. At duly noted®, we understand how valuable you feel your work is, and will treat it accordingly.
• We’re cheaper. And you can’t say fairer than that!

You need a registration service that works to your priorities and your schedule. That’s why you need duly noted®'s duly registered™ service.

A: Let’s answer that question with one of our own: do you trust your postal service? Have they ever mislaid mail you’ve sent or were due to receive, or just plain delivered it to the wrong address? Not only that, do you expect them to keep a record of a special delivery they handled (your manuscript/lyrics/disc) for ten years or longer? In fact, will you be able to keep track of all your self-addressed documents over ten years? And what if you lost your copy of the postal service’s proof of mailing?

Fact is, registering your work on-line – and with an independent third party – is a swifter, more convenient and secure way to establish your link with your work.

And yes, you could post yourself your work. But in the age of re-sealable envelopes, printed pages and re-writable disks and data sticks, it’s hard to ignore the potential to falsify this old method of proving copyright, so as evidence it may be rejected in a court of law.

A: We’re flattered some clients want to come and say hello and register.  They have reasons too; perhaps they want to pay by cheque, or wish to physically hand over the file, or they want us to do the registration for them.

However, physically coming to our offices to register defeats the very reason we set up an electronic, online registration service, which operates 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in the world.  This service doesn’t have to rely on our office hours, is free from the whims of any transport or postal service, we’ve made it as simply to do as possible, and it’s nigh-on instantaneous and secure.

By accessing our service online, you can upload your work to our database via our website.  No need to travel to our offices, no worries about whether your work reaches us intact in the post; registration takes just minutes.  Just fill in your details, name and upload your work, provide your payment details via the very safe and secure WorldPay (who handle our transactions), and the job is done!

And as we physically have had no part in the registration process, you have the confidence that we can say it has remained in its exact, original form, untouched and unmodified by human hand from the moment it entered our database – important if we’re to confirm this as part of the registration evidence we might need to give you in future.

A: It’s easy!  Registration occurs by uploading your work into our database via our website.  You can do this anytime, day or night, and it’s not dependent on our office being open either.

1. You click the “Register now” option from the top menu at the www.dulyregistred.co.uk homepage, and the Register Now page appears, offering you – if you scroll down – the options of single, multiple registrations, or bundles.  Make your choice
2. Having clicked Proceed, the next page is where you fill in your email address (used when next you log in with us)
3. The next page that appears is a “Your details” page, where you complete info about yourself
4. On the following page you identify the type of work you wish to register and its name, and the number of authors (complete their details on another page following), and upload the work by browsing your computer.  You then pay, and registration is complete.
5. You are sent an invoice and registration certificate, and now also have the option of downloading a FREE copyright banner notice, unique to your registered work.

How To… Video Available!

We actually have a short video on our duly registered™ website which answers this question for you and demonstrates how it’s done.  Simply click here:

Registration page

PLEASE NOTE 1: our terms and conditions relating to this and our duly saved™ service.

PLEASE NOTE 2: Passwords: When you register, you’ll be asked to provide a password specific to the work you’re registering. You must keep this password safe, as you’ll need to quote it in correspondence in the event you have to claim a copyright infringement and we need to retrieve your document. See Question; “What will you do if I'm involved in a copyright dispute?” for more details.

A: Immediately you submit it. Once you see the NOTED! confirmation stamp at the end of registration, it means the process is complete, your payment has been accepted, and your work is registered with us. You’ll also receive emails confirming your registration has been processed. See Question; "So I've registered my work with you, what next?" for more details.

A: Fortunately, no.  Copyright is a nigh-on worldwide right; well-established, automatic, and internationally recognised.  And while no one international convention guarantees copyright protection throughout the entire world, established agreements like the Berne Convention (1886), the Universal Copyright Convention (1952), and The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) (1994).  These have nigh-on two hundred signatory states between them.  So while not every country in the world has participated in these treaties, it does mean copyright is almost universal.

These agreements mean that participating states must grant the same minimum standards of protection as offered to copyright owners within their own borders, to the copyright owners of other participating nations.  Consequently, a copyright registration of your work in your or another country should be recognised as evidence elsewhere, meaning you should not need to repeat the registration process.  A registration with duly noted® should therefore be sufficient for your needs, as we are committed to submitting the registration evidence according to the law of the country in which the infringement court case is happening.

Having said this, US and non-Berne Convention countries’ citizens are required to register their work with the US Copyright Office – run by the United States Library of Congress – in order to file claims in the US courts.  While we recommend that US and non-Berne Convention countries’ citizens do this, there are advantages to also making use of duly noted:

* Registration with duly noted is immediate, whereas the Library of Congress can take months to process your application.  And until you get confirmation of registration from the LoC, at least in the meantime you have independent, third party evidence of registration.
* Duly noted can also register your work at the US Copyright Office on your behalf. Contact us at mailbox@dulynoted.co.uk for more information.
* Your duly noted registration can also be supporting evidence of your ownership in the international arena.

Not sure if your country is a Berne Convention member?  No problem.  Follow this link to the World Trade Property Organisation (WIPO) Page to find out.  You can also visit our Copyright Treaties Page.

A: Of course! As copyright is an internationally recognised right, we can accept registrations from clients outside the UK.

We refer US and non-Berne Convention countries’ citizens to the answer to question 4 however, which has important information relating to their registering work in the United States.

A: Our standard rate for a single registration is £7.47 inc. VAT, regardless what kind of work or file type it is.

If you have more than ten works to register, you should consider our Bundle options; pre-bought registrations you can use anytime offering EVEN BETTER VALUE. To find out more about the Bundles available to you, select your creative type under the Creative Type section on the duly registered™ website. For example, if you’re a musician, go to the Musicians’ Page. If you’re a writer / poet, go to the Writer’s / Author’s / Poet’s page.

A standard Bundle is £79.97 inc. VAT.

Other Bundle options are available including Super & Mega Bundles. See the relevant Creative Type page and our Rates Page for more information and price details.

A: The standard registration term is ten (10) years. And yes, this term is renewable for another ten years, and another... as long as the client wishes to renew.

A: No problem! Our standard Registration service allows our clients to register multiple works at one time. When uploading your chosen file during registration, you’ll be given the option to upload another. Just select that option, and you go through the registration process for your next document. You can repeat this as often as you need before going on to the payment screen to complete registration of your works.

If you have more than ten works to register, you should consider our Bundle options; pre-bought registrations you can use anytime offering EVEN BETTER VALUE.  To find out more about the Bundles available to you, select your creative type under the Creative Type section on the duly registered™ website.  For example, if you’re a musician, go to the Musicians’ Page.  If you’re a writer / poet, go to the Writer’s / Author’s / Poet’s page.  Other Bundle options are available. See the relevant Creative Type page and our Rates Page for more information and price details.

A: You can use up any remaining pre-bought registrations with your Bundle, by logging into your personal Your NOTED! member page, and registering from there.  Here's how it works:

* Login using this link: http://www.dulyregistered.co.uk/your-noted
* You will then enter your personal page.  Make sure the red duly registered service tab to the left of the screen is selected.  The page will also list your previous registrations.  The menu at the top right of the screen has a  “Register New File” button. Click on that
* Follow the on-screen instructions.  As you’ve logged into your account, our system will know you have remaining registrations on your bundle and will automatically assign them until they’re all used up.

A: Sure, as long as you are one of the creators of that work. Our registration service allows for inputting details of more than one creator, and they will be listed with you in our database and on the registration certificate.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For the purposes of registering songs poetry and blogs, where multiples of these can be uploaded and identified in one registration, it is important that the creators named be the same for all works registered. Works authored with different collaborators must be registered separately. This is so that in the event of a copyright breach only the registration (and the work) relating to the creators involved has to be duplicated for submission as evidence, so avoiding duplicating the registration of unrelated creators (and consequently breaching their copyright!).

A: It’s best that you register your work under your real, legal name.  This is so as to avoid any possible confusion about the registration and the identity of the client who registered it, which may undermine its usefulness as evidence later.  We cannot be held responsible if you choose to register under a name which is not your own.

A: No. The reason for this is that, in a dispute, the fact that another person rather than the author registered the work could undermine the validity of that registration. And if you register another person's work without their knowledge, permission, and/or in your name, this will expose you to claims of infringement by the original rightsholder.  This is also why we advise our clients to use only their legal names when registering their works.

Please refer to clauses 11.2, 11.4 and 11.5 of our terms & conditions.

A: The purpose of our service is to provide evidence that your work existed at least from the date of registration, and was in a certain form at that time – backed up by a copy of that work as registered with us on the date of registration.

Now whilst the registration date should not be assumed to be the de facto earliest date the registered work existed or was brought into existence, this is the only date duly noted® can actually verify and that we would be willing to sign notarised affidavits attesting to.

At the same time, our security protocols relating to clients’ registrations mean that both we and our clients are unable to alter any details about their registrations after they have been made.  This is to ensure all we can present in the event of a court case are the facts, and also that there are no claims made that we or our clients have tampered with the registration data to our or our clients’ advantage – undermining the validity and use of the registration as evidence.

You are welcome to put a copyright notice giving the year you actually created the work on the work itself prior to registering it with us.

A: Any work that is original, to which you own the copyright, and falls under copyright protection.

Copyrightable works: This can include (but is not limited to) short stories, artwork, novels, photographs, poetry, lyrics, plays – be they for film, TV, theatre or radio – cartoons, designs, program code and web pages.

Synopses and treatments can also be included, along with TV show formats and programme ideas. Be advised however that, as an idea by its very nature is vague in comparison to a completed manuscript, and consequently can be more difficult to establish copyright ownership, we recommend you develop your idea as fully as you can (including e.g. character development, the story arc(s) of the series, sample episode synopses – if not complete episodes too).

Formats: We accept any computer file.

Non-copyrightable works: Certain works do not fall under the protection of copyright law, so consequently would not be suitable for copyright registration. The following, though not protected by copyright, can however be protected by patents; concepts, inventions, designs, methods or processes, plant strains. And these other works can be protected by trademarks; phrases or slogans, names & titles (see elsewhere in our FAQs), logos, colours, fragrances.

If you’re not sure whether your work is copyrightable or not, please consult an intellectual property lawyer. In the event you have no lawyer, follow this link to our Legal Advice Page.

A: Within a few minutes of seeing the NOTED! confirmation stamp at the end of registration, you will be automatically emailed a registration number - unique to your work - along with details about the work registered as recorded by you, and an official duly noted® registration certificate.

Print your certificate, and keep it, your member number and login, and your unique registration password safe. Next, place the registration number somewhere prominent on your work. We propose the following text; “This work is duly noted® Ltd. copyright registered, No: (insert registration number here)”.

You also have access to your registration data and certificate at your own personal Your NOTED! page. Simply log in at:

http://www.dulyregistered.co.uk/your-noted

and your registrations will be visible for you to review.

Your work and details of its registration will be stored at duly noted® until such time as it may be required in a copyright dispute. Only the work’s creator(s) can access information duly noted® has relating to the creator’s registered work. Requests for access can be made via the client’s email address they have logged in the company’s records, or in the form of a notarised letter.

A: No problem! You can retrieve duplicates of your certificate at any time by accessing your personal Your NOTED! member’s page. This will show you details of all your registered works and against each will be a “View Details” link. Click on that, let the screen refresh, and with the information about your registration there’ll be a “Download This Certificate” link. With that you can re-download and re-print your certificate. Simple!!

Log in at:

http://www.dulyregistered.co.uk/your-noted

and your registrations will be visible for you to review.

PLEASE NOTE: You are not able to access your original work, so it is important you keep a duplicate for back-up purposes.  If you wish, you can make use of our GemProtect™ data back-up and storage service, by visiting our duly saved™ site.  Initial subscription is FREE.

A: Upon the expiration of your registration term, duly noted® will dispose of all information and data relating to your work. This will include destruction and deletion of your files and records.

A: Yes, you can cancel at any time in the form of notarised letter or by email from your address logged in the company records. In the case where more than one person is the creator of a work, cancellation must come from all parties involved in the form of notarised letter(s).

Upon receipt of a cancellation notice, duly noted® will dispose of all information and data relating to your work(s). This will include destruction and deletion of your files and records.

PLEASE NOTE: Cancellation of your duly noted® registration will mean duly noted® cannot provide its service to you as an independent third party in the case of a dispute.

A: If you’ve forgotten your password, the problem is easily solved.  Simply access the forgotten password facility in the Your NOTED! login page at duly registered™.  Provide the same email address you used when you signed up, and your membership ID (that would have been on your registration, invoice and sign-up emails), click “send password” and you’ll get the info email you need. The Forgotten Password Page link is below:

http://www.dulynoted.co.uk/?n=forgottenpass

Once you’ve logged back into you account, use the red service tabs “duly registered”, “duly saved”, “duly formed” to then access the service you require.

A: If you have an account with us, updating your details is easy.

* Simply login to your personal Your NOTED! page: https://www.dulynoted.co.uk/?n=yournoted
* In the menu on the top of the screen, choose “Update Membership Details”.
* After the screen refreshes, you will be given your current user account information.  Modify as required and click the “Update” button at the bottom of the screen.

Job done!

A: No.  Your registrations are historical records of your work and of you as the author / creator who registered it at the time of registration.  Registrations cannot be altered after the fact, as that would undermine the purpose of our independent third party verification service.

You are welcome to update your account details as and when any of them change so they are current when you register new work.

A: Of course!  And not only that, because we recognise they are much shorter than other written works like novels or screenplays, you have the option of including up to 15 songs or poems in one registration.

1. Compile the written songs or poems you wish to register in one file and save it.
2. Complete the on-line registration form, and ensure you select one of the following copyrightable works: “Lyrics (Song) - 15 allowed in one registration)”, “Music (Manuscript) - 15 allowed in one registration)”, “Songs (Written - 15 allowed in one registration)” or “Poems (15 allowed in one registration)” in the Work Type drop down menu (check it will be a drop down menu).
3. You’ll then be asked how many songs or poems you wish to register.  Choose the number of, and name, those (and only those) compiled on your saved file, and then select that matching file for uploading for registration.
4. Fill in your payment information, and submit.  It couldn’t be simpler, quicker, or more convenient.

Just follow this link to our Registration page: http://www.dulyregistered.co.uk/registration/.

PLEASE NOTE:  This applies only to written songs, lyrics, music and poems.  All other forms of work must be registered as single files.  Any attempt to register other works under those categories listed above will invalidate your registration!  (Please refer to 11.4 of our terms & conditions.)

A: Registering an idea is up to you.  However, keep the following in mind:

Under the Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988, the works protected by copyright are defined the following way: (a) original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works,
(b) sound recordings, films or broadcasts, and
(c) the typographical arrangement of published editions.”

While this covers a lot of material, this doesn’t cover the idea you have for your work, as copyright covers the expression of an idea, not the idea itself.  However, here are four things you can do to help protect your idea:

1. Develop the work as much as possible, and get it down in tangible form.  Outline everything about it clearly so there’s no question about what you have in mind.  This not only crystallises your thinking about your idea, it provides more information that clearly identifies your work from others and would help show it as uniquely yours.
2. Keep everything about your idea’s development; jottings, notes, drawings, emails, faxes, letters, designs, in case you need to submit them as evidence later in any court case.
3. Once done, register your fully developed work with duly noted®.  The reason is this; the registration will still provide independent third party evidence you had the idea for, and developed the work from, a specific time – should you require it in future.  If someone develops a similar idea after, you can show you came up with it before them.  You can register by clicking here.
4. Keep a communications journal of all parties you send out submissions of your work too; dates, projects, contacts and feedback if any.  And keep any correspondence from them too.  You can track the history of your work’s exposure to the outside world, so if any of them release a work similar to yours, you can better consider grounds for taking action.

If you believe your idea can be lucrative, the above steps should help give you the measure of protection you need until they are finally completed.

A: No. Names and titles do not fall under copyright protection. And a complete copy of your work, not just its name, must be submitted for registration of that work to take effect.

However certain items such as company or personal logos can be submitted, as, though they do contain a name, the combination of this with artwork which is covered by copyright can make a logo a copyrighted work, and therefore suitable for registration and even trade marking. Prior registration in these cases would be vital if you discovered a rival company/individual is copying your brand, or attempting to pass themselves off as you or your company.

If you require more detailed info about trade marks, and whether your company name or branding can be trade marked, your Government Intellectual Property Office can help. Contact details for a number of international Intellectual Property Offices can be found here

A: Assuming your logo is made from a photograph / artwork or graphic design – which fall under copyright protection – you can register them with us.

If your logo also has a name as part of the design, it can still be registered with us. At the same time however, you should consider registering your logo as a trademark. Find out more by reviewing our Question: "What is a trademark?" elsewhere in our FAQs.

A: The document file size limit per copyright registration is a helpful 100 Megabytes.

A: No, we don’t. In fact, we can’t – unless you have a copyright dispute. In that event we will have to access the original uploaded file to forward a copy to you, along with the data relating to its registration, for you to submit as evidence for your case. And we can only access your registered work when you provide us with the unique password you gave it when you first registered it. So you must ensure you keep that password safe, as we won’t have a record of it. Please refer to the Question; “What will you do if I’m involved in a copyright dispute?” for more details about document retrieval.

A: Yes. We have endeavoured to ensure the security of the duly noted® and its duly registered™ site so you can have confidence your files are registered and stored as securely as you would hope them to be.  

A: At duly noted®, we want you to be confident you’re just as safe paying for our services as you’ll be using them. So we use WorldPay; a well established and competitive online payment and merchant banking service, to handle our transactions. Payments from our clients go through their secured servers, using their security measures, so that your transaction info remains safe.

A: Remember, the intention behind registration is so you are able to verify the date your original work existed and was in your possession. Amending the registered document itself would negate the validity of registration. That’s why we don’t allow access to the original uploaded file and also “fingerprint it” when it’s first registered to ensure it remains unaltered during the time it’s with us.

However, we do recommend registering a new draft of a work you’ve previously registered with us. The advantage of registering a work in its various stages of development is it will help contribute to the paper trail history of the work's development that leads your work’s origins back to its copyright owner; you.

We suggest this should be done only after you’ve made major changes to your work. And of course, be sure to include the new draft number in the work title when registering again, for easier reference.

A: We leave it to the discretion of our clients as to whether they re-register a new version of a work they’ve already previously registered.  We say this as our client will know how much their work has changed, and if they feel it has changed significantly enough, it might be worth re-registering.

Consider a novel; if the plot remains the same but the writer, between their first and third draft, has decided to significantly alter how the narrative flows to reveal the plot; such as amalgamating characters or changing dramatic incidents or moments of revelation, then the writer might be wise to register their latest draft.  Some clients do just this; registering multiple drafts of their work.  In this way they have a third party record of how their work has evolved over time, which they could submit as evidence to court if required.

A: Yes. We have a number of ways to help our clients administer their registrations:

·  Registration expiry dates are shown on each client’s Your NOTED! member’s page, next to the work they’ve registered.  
·  Email reminders are sent to our clients before expiry of their registrations.

A: Not the original registered document, no. However, you can make use of our low-cost GemProtect™ data back-up and storage solution for just such an emergency. Access to this service can be found in your personal Your NOTED! member’s page, or through our duly saved™ website.  

A: You will need to notify us in the form of a notarised letter or by email from your email address logged in our company records in your personal Your NOTED! member’s page. In the case where more than one person is the creator of a work, notification must come from all parties involved in the form of notarised letter(s). You’ll also need to provide the unique password that allows us access to your registered file. duly registered™ will then produce the registration data relevant to the work in question, along with a copy of the original uploaded file, and forward it to you to submit as evidence as part of your case.

Registration retrieval carries a charge to cover administration, payable at the time of registration as an optional extra, by pre-paid subscription or cheque.  Details about this can be found at the bottom of Our Rates page.

PLEASE NOTE: We cannot offer legal advice. Please consult your lawyer, or, if you are a member, your union or guild that will likely be able to offer legal advice or point you in the right direction. In the event you have no lawyer, follow this link to our Legal Advice page.

A: Unfortunately, yes. The purpose of registration is to provide evidence for disputes occurring in the future, and can be of no real use after the fact.

That’s why it’s important to register your work as soon after completion as possible, and before you start sending it out into the world.

A: If your involved in a dispute over copyright, trademarks or a design right, we suggest you make contact with an intellectual property lawyer experienced in dealing with such issues, to consider the most effective course of action.  As we are not a law firm, we strongly suggest consulting with one to gain a better perspective.  You can run a search for your nearest IP lawyer on the Legal Advice page of our duly registered™ resources page.

You might get a free consultation, or a consultation may cost you money, but expert advice does.  Be prepared to pay something.  But you will have a better opportunity to clearly explain the situation and get solid, appropriate advice.

A: Your registration data will remain safe should the unlikely event occur that duly noted® shuts its doors. The company has undertaken to provide contingency measures whereby appointed agents can ensure continuation of its services until completion of our clients’ registration or subscription terms.

A: Under UK law, copyright comes into effect immediately a copyrightable work comes into creation, and is automatically assigned to the work’s author.  There is no government-run official registration process as a consequence, so if it comes to an infringement court case, the author has to ensure they can provide evidence they created the work themselves and can officially be identified as the author of the work being infringed.  By producing evidence, I mean of how the work came into existence, concepts, previous drafts, story and development notes etc. which show how the work developed from inception to completion.

However, it is up to the author to prove that they are the author of the work.  They can do this by keeping the evidence they developed the work; for example, handwritten notes, all the versions of their work from the idea through to the finished product, anything that shows they were invoveld in the product’s creation.  In this way, if they had to go to court, they can tie the copyrighted work to themselves as the author.

A: There are under UK legislation a number of exceptions where copyrighted work can be used without the author’s / creator’s permission.  This is called “fair dealing” where it’s seen that such use has no detrimental economic impact on the authors / creators whose work is used.

The circumstances are:

* Non-commercial research and private study
* Criticism, review and reporting current events
* Teaching in educational establishments
* Not for profit public playing of recorded music
* Helping visually impaired people
* Time shifting

For example, if you’re quoting from other authors’ work in a factual book of your own that you’re writing, and if you are providing sufficient acknowledgment of them (their name and their book and page number where relevant), this may fall under the arena of “criticism or review” in fair dealing, wherein you’re using their quotes to prove a point, offer context or to counter their arguments.  That being the case, you may well not have to seek permission to use their work.  However, if you are quoting large segments of one work by an author, it would be advisable to seek permission from the rights holder.

For more information about fair dealing and copyright exemptions, we recommend you visit the UK Intellectual Property Office website; Permitted uses of copyright works page.

A: It depends on the terms of the agreement you both came to.  If you are an employee working for a company, it is likely any intellectual property you produce for that company in the course of your employment will be owned by your employer under the terms of the employment contract you signed.  That is standard practice nowadays.

Most companies when hiring third party freelancers to create work for them do so on the understanding the IP rights revert to them as a commissioning party – they’re paying for the work to be created for them, after all.  This would be covered under the terms of any purchase order the freelancer received.

Intellectual Property rights can only be transferred to a new owner in writing, in the form a contract, often called and Assignment of Rights agreement.

A: Trademarks are identifiers of trading businesses.  The best trademarks are instantly recognisable, and help distinguish a business, its products or services from those of its competitors.  Take five seconds now to think of a famous logo or brand name.  Chances are it’s trademarked.

Names, phrases, slogans, and logos can become trademarks. 

Trademarks like copyrights can be licensed or sold, and really valuable trademarks can earn big money.  Consequently, they can be formally registered with a government trade mark office for extra protection from infringement.

A: We do not yet act as an agent for our clients who wish to register their brands, logos, slogans or names as trademarks with the UK Intellectual Property Office.

You can however contact the UK Intellectual Property Office directly about registering your brand, logo, slogan or name as a trademark.  We advise running an initial search against the various trading categories.  While the UKIPO charge for this service, it would save you the time and expense of submitting an application at a substantially higher price only to find your preferred trademark is already taken.  The Intellectual Property Office team are also very helpful and willing to offer guidance.

You can contact the UKIPO by clicking here.

A: A Design Right is an automatic protection under law for original three dimensional designs (this is whether they are internal or external), allowing you to stop anyone copying the shape or configuration of your product.  A Design Right lasts for either:

* ten years after the first marketing of products based upon your design, or
* fifteen years after the creation of you design.

Now whichever of the above is the earlier, then that is the life of your Design Right.  Things to keep in mind about a Design Right:

1. The Design Right is a right under UK law only
2. For the first 5 years you can stop anyone from copying the design
3. For the rest of the time the design is subject to a “license of right”.  This means that anyone is entitled to a licence to make and sell products copying the design.

There is more to know about Design Rights than can be explained here, but if you wish to, you can follow this link to the UK Intellectual Property Office, it will provide more data about this form of intellectual property right.  

However you should know you can formally register for a Registered Design. The UK Intellectual Property Office has this to say about this and a registered Design right:

* That the registered Design can be renewed every five years up to 25 years
* Grants you a monopoly right for the product, protecting the shape and pattern/decoration
* A registered design will cover the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and materials of the product or its ornamentation

But to be registered, a design must:

* be new
* have individual character; meaning, it should not remind an informed person of an existing design.

The above information can be found at their site here, as well as to consider applying for a registered design right.

A: No.  Only the UK Intellectual Property Office can issue an official, registered Design Right.  You can find out more about this by clicking here.

However, while duly noted® can’t grant an official registered design, you may wish to consider using our service whilst the official application is being processed.  This shows your design was in existence from a certain point in time – at least from the date of registration – before the formal registration with the UK IPO was completed.

If you wish to register with us, click here, and follow the on-screen instructions.

A: A Publication Right functions like copyright in that it gives equivalent rights to copyright to the person who publishes for the first time a work in which the copyright has expired.

For example; if an author wrote a manuscript but never published it, and then died in 1932, the copyright on that manuscript would have expired.  As the manuscript had never been unpublished (i.e. no performance or communication of the work to the public), and a descendant of the author found and published the manuscript, the descendant can make use of the Publication Right.

Three things to keep in mind for the Publication Right:

1. It lasts 25 years only
2. Relates only to unpublished work
3. The owner of the publication right is the person who first publishes the work (so be careful under what terms you agree to let others have access to the manuscript, as they might become that owner.)

You can find out more about Publication Rights (and what you can and can’t do with them) at the UK Intellectual Property Office – from which the above text is a summary.

A: When copyright lapses on a book, song or other such copyrightable work, that work falls into the “public domain”.  In effect, the work now falls outside the protection of intellectual property rights.  You could say it has passed its “sell by” date.

A consequence of a work entering the public domain is that the work can now be copied, shared and published free from restrictions and the need to pay, or otherwise gain permission to use the work from, its one-time owners, as would have been required were the intellectual property rights still active.

A: We can be contacted the following ways:

By post:
duly noted® Ltd
560 High Road
London E11 3DH

If you have any questions about our service or about intellectual property, we advise you first review our FAQs page. If these do not answer your query we can be emailed at info@dulyregistered.co.uk.

Office hours are 9am to 6pm, Greenwich Mean Time, Monday to Friday.

A: Our terms and conditions of service can be found by following this link here, and at the bottom of each page of all our websites.

Remember, if you have any other question regarding our service, you can contact us. We’ll be pleased to help.