{"id":525,"date":"2020-01-23T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T16:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vps7961.inmotionhosting.com\/~copyrightlaws.php5-6.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com\/?p=525"},"modified":"2026-07-03T14:25:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:25:32","slug":"lawyer-role-in-managing-copyright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/?p=525","title":{"rendered":"Your Lawyer&#8217;s Role in Managing Copyright"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your lawyer&#8217;s role in managing copyright issues is key to your role in copyright management. Although most of your copyright and licensing issues are resolved without consulting in-house or outside counsel, it&#8217;s important to know when to reach out to a copyright lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This article discusses both your and your lawyer&#8217;s role in managing copyright and copyright compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Copyright and&nbsp;Your Attorney<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are numerous measures your lawyer can be involved with in terms of managing your copyright issues and lowering your organization&#8217;s risk of copyright infringement.&nbsp; Your lawyer may:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Advise the organization, where appropriate, to purchase insurance that will pay costs such as \u201cafter-the-fact\u201d licenses and monetary payments to a copyright owner in case of a copyright infringement suit against you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Educate employees about copyright protection and how it applies, how to analyze a fair use or fair dealing situation, licenses for software and other electronic resources, and the penalties for violating copyright. (This is a task you could jointly undertake with your lawyer to provide two perspectives on copyright and licensing infringement risks.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Review licenses you&#8217;ve negotiated to ensure the terms and conditions meet the organization&#8217;s needs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Conduct periodic copyright compliance spot checks\u00a0to ensure the organization is only using licensed content, or content in which it owns the copyright.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Review a written copyright policy you&#8217;re written.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">Also see <a href=\"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/best-practices-to-lower-copyright-risks\/\">Best Practices to Lower Copyright Risks<\/a> for tips on prevent copyright infringement in your organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Copyright Infringement Cases<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is infringing copyright becoming riskier? It&#8217;s hard to say. Two court cases which remain in the minds of many corporate counsels in the U.S. concern Knowledge Networks and Legg Mason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Knowledge Networks, a U.S. market research consulting company, paid $300,000 USD for distributing copyright-protected articles and research reports to employees via e-mail newsletters. The company had been forwarding articles from publishers such as Reed Elsevier and the Associated Press without obtaining licenses or permissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In <em>Lowry&#8217;s Reports<\/em> v. <em>Legg Mason<\/em>, a jury awarded $19.7 million US in damages to Lowry&#8217;s Reports, Inc. for copyright infringement by Legg Mason, Inc. In this case, Legg Mason had purchased one subscription of &#8220;Lowry&#8217;s New York Stock Exchange Market Trend Analysis&#8221; newsletter. Legg Mason employees copied, faxed and disseminated copies of the newsletter, and later posted an electronic version of it on the company&#8217;s intranet, over a period of several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Copyright Management Without Your Lawyer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are several copyright issues that you may be comfortable dealing with on your own without your lawyer&#8217;s assistance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Interpreting fair use or fair dealing on a daily basis.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/copyright.cornell.edu\/publicdomain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Determining what&#8217;s in the public domain<\/a> and what&#8217;s protected by copyright.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Selecting a Creative Commons license to use with content generated by your organization.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Note that in all of the above situations, you&#8217;ll be able to deal with common issues. But, should the issues become complicated or pose larger risks to your organization, that&#8217;s a good time to consult your lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Assessing Your Risk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An important job of any <a href=\"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/are-you-the-go-to-copyright-person\/\">go-to copyright person<\/a> is to assess the risk when using materials with and without permission (if you choose to proceed). To assess your risk, consider the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The origin of the work(s)<\/strong> <strong>\u2014<\/strong> Is the author well known? This may be riskier. Does the author or copyright holder have a reputation for strictly guarding uses of their works?\u00a0Is the copyright owner likely to pursue legal action or to negotiate a copyright fee? Is the copyright owner likely to proceed through a trial if they commence an action?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Who will have access to the work(s)?\u00a0\u2014<\/strong> If you&#8217;re reproducing the work on the internet, it&#8217;s accessible to a huge number of people around the world.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Budget\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/strong>Analyze your budget for after-the-fact royalty payments, settlements out of court, court-related fees, and infringement-related legal advice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Political consequences\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/strong>What are the political consequences of using materials without permission? Would bad publicity mean less public funding? What would be the message to the public about respect for copyright law?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Insurance\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/strong>Do you have insurance coverage for copyright infringement?\u00a0 Would this use be covered? How would this affect your coverage and premiums?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Emotional impact \u2014<\/strong> What are the &#8220;emotional&#8221; costs of a claim against you for copyright infringement? How would this affect your employees and governing body?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Inconvenience costs\u00a0\u2014<\/strong>Weigh the time and inconvenience of dealing with an infringement claim against the advantages of using unauthorized materials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And of course, know your authority and comfort level to make these important decisions and judgment calls, and when you should consult with your lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Your Lawyer&#8217;s Role in Managing Copyright<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your lawyer has a delicate role in copyright management. They need to find a balance between micromanaging copyright uses in your organization and avoiding copyright infringement. Take the time to discuss each of your roles and keep the conversation fluid and ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Work with your counsel to develop&nbsp;best practices to lower your copyright risks&nbsp;and take the time to understand what your is role vis-a-vis your lawyer&#8217;s role when it comes to copyright management and compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Our <a href=\"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/copyright-certificate-programs\/\">Copyright Certificate Programs<\/a> provide you with in-depth knowledge of<br>the principles of domestic and global copyright law, as well as practical tools and strategies&nbsp;you can adapt to your particular circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your lawyer&#8217;s role in managing copyright issues is key to your role in copyright management. Although most of your copyright and licensing issues are resolved without consulting in-house or outside counsel, it&#8217;s important to know when to reach out to a copyright lawyer. This article discusses both your and your lawyer&#8217;s role in managing copyright [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,8,20],"tags":[73,74,75,76],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-businesses","category-libraries","category-us","tag-go-to-copyright-person","tag-infringement","tag-management","tag-working-with-a-copyright-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21497,"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525\/revisions\/21497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copyrightlaws.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}