When it comes to a world of creativity and new daily inventions, it is crucial to put patents, trademarks and copyright on your work to avoid the incident of an individual’s hard work being stolen, taken credit for or even mass produced without our recognition. Unfortunately even with these precautions being put into place, individuals still have the ability to break these laws in which case consequences are put into place.

When it comes to infringement of copyright laws, the spectrum is immensely broad in terms of the intensity of the consequence. A common minor consequence is to have the post taken down off of social media. For example, on the online shopping platform Etsy; if you post a product using Disney’s name, that is against the copyright because the Disney name is being used yet they are not profiting from the sale. In this case, the consequence is to be asked for the item to be taken down and if that is disobeyed then the item will be forcibly taken down or the account could be suspended. Similar case being on Instagram when credit is not being given. If an account if posting other’s work without giving credit, they can be reported and the account can be banned if they don’t listen to the terms and conditions. On the opposite side of the spectrum, an individual or company can be taken to court for breaching copyright laws. An example would be if someone used the McDonald’s jingle in another advertisement even though their jingle is trademarked. In this extreme case, a lawsuit could be persuaded. The consequence of infringement depends on the severity of the breach.

How infringement is broken down in the country of Ontario is that depending on what category the breach falls under, determines the consequence. The two identified by the government of Canada are: https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/07415.html#p6

1. Civil consequence: A court deciding what compensation shall be made to repair the damage. This could include allowing all infringement copies or profits to be turned over to the copyright owner.
2. Criminal consequence: Infringement of the copyright act may result in fines being charged and possible imprisonment to the individual responsible for the infringement. This consequence is typically for commercial piracy for example.

Other consequences for breaking copyright laws:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/happens-someone-breaks-copyright-law-55834.html

As time goes on and less and less ideas are original, more copyrights and trademarks are put into place to avoid the issue of having the same idea everywhere we turn. The consequences depend not on the severity of the crime but also on the location in the world and unfortunately the company you’re dealing with. The bigger the company, the more serious infringement becomes.

By: Kaitlyn Houle-Tielemans, 2016

References:

Branch, C. (2016). About Copyright – Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

Ic.gc.ca. Retrieved from https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/07415.html#p6

What Happens If Someone Breaks a Copyright Law? (2016). Smallbusiness.chron.com. Retrieved

from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/happens-someone-breaks-copyright-law-55834.html