Translations and copyright issues
by Lingo24, 15th October, 2007
Although many translations are performed every year without event, a little foreknowledge of copyright issues and a little preparatory work before commencing a translation will help avoid any problems later on.
There are many valid reasons why a translation might be made of a document, play, book or a technical plan etc, for instance; a document might be translated from its original language to make it understandable to its intended recipient, a book or play might be translated to bring it to a wider audience and a technical plan might be translated for overseas engineering workshops of the same company. Whatever the reason for a translation being made though, care must be taken to ensure that one is not transgressing the original author’s copyright. Breaching a copyright, either accidentally or intentionally, can embroil the perpetrator in lengthy and costly legal proceedings and lead to punitive awards against any transgressor. In order to gain an awareness of the dangers inherent in copyright breaches, let us look at a brief overview of the issue. Copyright protects a wide range of material such as literary, dramatic, musical and technical works. Although specific terms are used here, legally, they are actually analogous to any work made up of words and need not actually be ‘literary’ or ‘dramatic’ in the everyday sense, in order to be covered by copyright. For instance, a comic strip is not really ‘literary’ in the same sense as Voltaire, but would nevertheless be covered by copyright. There is no official process of registering copyright, it becomes immediately operative as soon as a work is written down or recorded in some way, including via voice recording media. Many originators, though, choose to register their work with some of the many private copyright registration services available in order to give their ‘automatic’ copyright a verifiable timeline should the need arise for legal action in the future. In order to ensure worldwide copyright protection for original authors, a system of international conventions and treaties is in place which grant each others citizens the protection of the signatories copyright laws; for instance, if a protected German work is to be translated in the UK, then its author is automatically protected under UK law. In general, before making a translation of any work, the original author’s permission will need to be sought. It is worth noting that a translation is also liable for copyright protection as a literary work. This is, however separate from the copyright on the underlying original work; it is therefore possible that a translation and an original work may have two separate copyright owners, consequently, should a translation of a translation be made, there could be two owners permissions to seek before this can be done. When making a translation, the original author has certain moral rights, which must be kept in mind; As previously mentioned, the copyright owner’s permission must generally be sought before making a translation of his work. There are, however, some important points to ensure at the early stages of negotiating terms with the owner. Firstly, the translator must bare in mind, to what use the translation will be put; for instance if it will subsequently be broadcast, published, distributed, or displayed on a website, specific written permissions must be gained for this. An added and well advised measure for any translator is to have included within the owners written permission, an extra provision stating that the person giving the permission is the owner or sole licensee of the copyright and that they are duly authorised to grant permission to have the work translated. In addition, they should state that they will indemnify the translator against any loss etc arising from a breach of their warranted statement. Although many translations are performed every year without event, a little foreknowledge of copyright issues and a little preparatory work before commencing a translation will help avoid any problems later on. If in any doubt, a solicitor should be consulted and in any case, one should always be consulted when drawing up, or before signing any copyright related documentation.
© Lingo24
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