On 24 October 2011 11:20, Francis Davey <[email protected]> wrote: > 2011/10/24 Chris Taggart <[email protected]>: > > Francis > > I think that's an interesting question, and a non-trivial one. > > Have spoken with some in govt about this, and I don't think it's entirely > > clear that a court would enforce the copyright on annual reports (though > > you're the lawyer, I am not). Obviously photos within them, other > aspects, > > I have absolutely no doubt a court would enforce the copyright on an > annual report (unless it was composed of non IP judges perhaps). > There's no doubt that copyright subsists in its maker and any copying > of it is, without more, an infringement. >
Useful opinion. Thanks. > > > and even the reports have copyright, but does the role as public > documents > > override this in any way (i.e. if you can't email a company report to > your > > No. There's no "public document" exception. > I wasn't talking in legal terms ;-) > > > financial advisor for analysis does it 'work'). There's also the question > of > > whether they are also like press releases, designed by their nature to be > > distributed. > > I think it would be tough to argue there's an implied licence to > re-publish them on a company analysis website. > No, but that's not the point I was making. I (possibly incorrectly) understood that Press Releases were deemed to have been put in the public domain by the entity issuing them. I just wondered if the same could be argued for annual reports, particularly if they are also given to regulatory news agencies, for wider distribution. > > > As I said, I am not a lawyer, but it would seem to me that if a company > were > > to enforce the copyright on the annual report, it would call into > question > > the whole purpose of annual reports. > > If the report is obtained from Companies House you can take advantage > of section 47, which I suggest you have a read through as its quite > interesting: > > http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/47 I did ;-) Interesting & possibly useful for many other reasons too, as you point out in your earlier email. Chris -- ------------------------------------------------------- OpenCorporates :: The Open Database of the Corporate World http://opencorporates.com OpenlyLocal :: Making Local Government More Transparent http://openlylocal.com Blog: http://countculture.wordpress.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/CountCulture
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