LEGAL Are ideas two a penny?

PROTECTING YOUR CREATIONS: ARE IDEAS TWO A PENNY?

By Brian Levine, Battens Solicitors

With the increasing influx of creative talent to the south-west, it seems like a good moment to consider the sort of issues faced by those who wish to protect and exploit intellectual property, in particular, copyright in the written word, art, music, photography, or film. Brian Levine, the Head of Media, Entertainment, and Intellectual Property at Battens Solicitors reports.

In the UK, copyright exists automatically when the expression of an idea is recorded. Proving that can be more complex. Patents, industrial designs and trademarks can be registered, but there is no governmental UK copyright register, unlike the USA. Posting a work to your lawyer or bank, the date stamp being the evidence as to the time of creation, was the old school way. to someone who then wrote a book and a TV script, the other author has actually put in the time and work to create a copyrightable book and TV script that cannot be a copy of any work produced by the original author, as she never wrote anything. ‘Inspired by’ a verbal, vague idea perhaps, but the law allows inspiration, as many works (some would say all) derive inspiration from what has gone before. has clearly been copied by another. If the Shaws can prove that, they may be entitled to substantial damages.

So - the starting point is to flesh out your ideas into a copyrightable work. You’re always welcome to talk to us about what happens next.

Please contact brian.levine@ battens.co.uk, call 01935 846258 or visit www.battens. co.uk.

Solicitors

We all have ideas. Legally, an idea, just by itself, is difficult to protect. That idea needs to be written down, drawn, recorded (music) or photographed, made into something tangible that is capable of being ‘copied’. It is not the idea that is technically protected by copyright, but the expression of that idea.

For example, a writer might say to her agent that she fancies writing a book about an elderly couple who decide to book themselves seats on a rocket to the moon. She never writes it, but three years later the writer sees a book for sale, with an accompanying TV series, called Oldies in Space, created, apparently, by someone she knows is also a client of the agent. Even though the agent may have mentioned the idea Contrast this to the recent lawsuit filed in the US against Spike Lee and Nate Parker, sued for copyright infringement over the feature film American Skin. In 2017, the Shaw brothers submitted a screenplay to a competition: it didn’t win, but it was circulated to the judges, a group of industry professionals. Two years later, Spike Lee’s film premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Allegedly, the themes and storyline are ‘identical’ and the screenplays bear ‘uncanny’ similarities. The key to whether the 2019 film is adjudged a copy of the 2017 script is how heavily it copies it: one or two similar scenes may not be enough, unless word for word. It has to be a substantial copy, enough for a court to see that the hard work of one author

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CLEARING AWAY THE CONFUSION

By Catherine Murton, Head of Private Client, Pardoes Solicitors LLP

For lots of people winter brings flu jabs and, no doubt this year, a Covid booster. Sadly, and inevitably, autumn and winter often bring an increase in the death rate and so I thought it might be helpful to provide a little guidance on probate and estate administration in the hope that no one will actually need it!

Often the death of a loved one can leave people worrying over the paperwork that needs to be done. In fact, in most cases, there are only three things that need to be attended to with any urgency. Firstly, a funeral director will need to be chosen and instructed. Secondly, the death must be registered with the registrar for the area in which the individual passed away. Lastly (and this is a bit of an odd one), the house insurer should be advised, particularly if the property will now be empty.

There is often confusion about when probate or letters of administration are required and the difference between

PARDOES FREE LEGAL HELPLINE

Questions for the Qualified

Tough times require a community willing to help and support one another. Due to the restrictions in place in Somerset (and the nation) we have had to halt our popular free Legal Clinics in the villages/towns dotted around South Somerset. We have endeavoured to continue to help our community by offering other free services such as The Friendly Law Podcast which covers a range of important legal topics, but we would like to offer a further solution: The Pardoes Free Legal Helpline will commence on the 22 February and will run every Monday between 16:00 and 18:00. It will be manned by qualified staff The Legal Helpline

It is our ambition that dedicating this time to give free legal help will ease some people’s worries and give back to the community of which we have been a proud member for over 100 years. Please book an appointment using our enquiry form at the bottom of our website homepage www.pardoes.co.uk Alternatively, please check our website/social media platforms @PardoesLLP to find out who will be taking calls and their number. We look forward to hearing from you. the two. In reality, they both perform the same function, probate being an application when the deceased left a will and letters of administration for when there is no will. Such an application will be necessary if the deceased owned a house in their sole name or with someone else as tenants in common, if they had stocks and shares, any investment in their sole name over £50,000 or NS&I products over the value of £5,000.

If the total value of the deceased’s assets is in excess of the inheritance tax threshold there may be inheritance tax to pay. When this is the case the tax return to HM Revenue and Customs must be made within six months starting from the end of the month in which the deceased died. In all other cases there is no time frame in which an application must be made.

Each individual can leave £325,000 without any inheritance tax liability. This is known as the nil rate band. However, there are substantial additional reliefs available, depending on the deceased’s personal circumstances. If there was a spouse who predeceased and left everything to the deceased then the nil rate band from the first to die can be transferred, thus allowing the deceased to leave £650,000 without any inheritance tax liability.

If there is a house and the deceased’s will leaves everything to direct descendants, there is an additional £175,000 relief available, providing the house is worth more than the sum of the relief. Furthermore, this is also transferable from a predeceased spouse. Potentially, the deceased can leave £1 million tax free.

I realise that there is an awful lot of information in one short article, so if you need any help with the administration of an estate or would like a free no-obligation chat I can be contacted on 01935 382689 or, alternatively, at catherine. murton@pardoes.co.uk. I promise a cheerier subject next month!