Copyright

In order to deal with any issues I might have with using sound and music in my teaser trailer I wanted to ask myself a series of questions to allow me to have a greater understanding of copyright and how it might effect me.

What is a Copyright?
A set of exclusive rights granted by the law to the author or creator of an original piece of work.

What do these rights mean?
Because these rights are solely the authors or creators it means that in order to use their work others need either permission to or will be required to pay to acquire these rights themselves.

In summary, it means that people can not use an original author's work to make either profit or other gain without the author being fairly credited themselves.

What can be copyrighted? Literacy, dramatical, music, artwork, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and typographical arrangements such as fonts or company logos.

How do you obtain copyright?
Copyright is an automatic right whenever an individual or company creates a work. Work should be regarded as original, and show labour, skill and judgement. However an idea for a book would not be protected but the the content of a book that has actually been written would be.  Basically someone else is still entitled to write their own book based on the same idea - for example a wizard in a wizarding school provided they do not directly copy or adapt yours to do so.

So there has to be an expressive piece of work for copyright laws to take place, simply just an idea does not suffice.

How long does it last?
For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works: 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies.

If the author is unknown, copyright will last for 70 years from end of the calendar year in which the work was created.If it is made available to the public during that time, (by publication, authorised performance, broadcast, exhibition, etc.), then the duration will be 70 years from the end of the year that the work was first made available.

UPDATE [25/02/12]: As I have now decided I wish to include 30 seconds of the song Darkest Star by Depeche Mode I need to look into how I go about obtaining this material without breaking copyright laws...

via: http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p27_work_of_others

I have discovered that I must contact the publishers of the material or in this case the producers and/or musicians. When seeking permission I must specify in writing...

The material you wish use (include the title of publication, author name etc.).

• The exact content to be duplicated (i.e. page numbers, section names, etc.).
• The number of copies you wish to make.
• How the copies will be used (i.e. for an event, course work, etc.).
• Who the copies will be distributed to (i.e. students , parents, general public).

Therefore I have emailed in hope that they will reply giving me an answer... this is the email...

Unfortunately I have recieved no reply however when researching further into copyright I have discovered that copyright concerning students is slightly different...

via: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/legal/copyright/students_guide/

I have discovered that if I am studying film or sound-tracks I can copy material if it is in the course of my studies which in this case it is.

''Sound and video recordings

If you are studying the making of film or film sound-tracks, then you can copy material available on published sound and video recordings to make your own film or film sound-track, provided that this is in the course of your studies. Note, this copying may only be done by a tutor or a student involved in such a course.''

CONCLUSION: 
My plan is to create my own sound effects for my teaser and concerning the music I want to use I will use below 30 seconds of it in order to respect copyright laws to the best of my ability. This means I have stuck to student copyright laws that I have researched as well as the legalities concerning contacting the publishers of any material I wish to use.