First, check whether or not the website offers a licence to use the map in this way. Note that a statement such as “email to a friend” does not permit you to use the map in a commercial context. If there is no express licence on the website, you will have to obtain permission by contacting the copyright owner, or the website proprietor if it is licensed to give you permission.

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Providing links to material on other websites does not generally raise copyright issues, unless you have reason to suspect that the material on the website you are linking to was put there without the copyright owner’s permission. However, providing such links could raise issues under other areas of law, especially if:

• the link is “framed” so that the material looks like it is on your website;

• the link, or the way it is contextualised on your website, could cause viewers to confuse your site or products with those of a commercial rival; or

• the proprietor of the website that you want to link to has asked you to agree not to provide such links.

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You will need permission from relevant copyright owners to put news items from other people’s websites onto your own website. Merely attributing the other site won’t substitute for permission.

In some cases, you will need to get permission on a case-by-case basis (for example, by contacting the relevant website proprietor).

In other cases, the person who operates the website may have given a general permission that is wide enough to cover the use you want to make of the material on their site (for example, by means of a broad permission statement on their website or by using a “Creative Commons” licence with the news items).

In yet other cases, websites that publish news allow people to set up RSS feeds from their site to other sites; in these cases, check for any terms or conditions that apply before setting up the RSS feed to your site.

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If material in which you own copyright has been copied onto another website without your permission, it’s likely that your copyright has been infringed. For information about situations where there might not be an infringement of copyright, see our information sheet Fair dealing; for information on what options are open to you if you suspect your copyright has been infringed, see our information sheet Infringement: what can I do?

Often the issue can be resolved by a simple email or letter to the proprietor of the other website. Another possibility is to contact the internet service provider (ISP); it is in the ISP’s interests to remove or disable access to copyright material on its system if it becomes aware that copyright is being infringed or “becomes aware of facts and circumstances that make it apparent that the material is likely to be infringing”.

Generally, when you contact the ISP, you need to provide them with several pieces of information:

• the material that is allegedly infringes your copyright;

• the basis on which you own copyright (for example, the material was created by you or by your employee); and

• that you did not license the other party either to reproduce that material or to make it available online.

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Generally, yes. If the work is protected by copyright you will need permission from the copyright owner to communicate the work to the public via the website, unless one of the exceptions to infringement applies to the situation.

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There have been a number of cases in which designs for individual letters have been held to be “artistic works” for the purposes of copyright. Copyright in many popular typefaces has, however, expired, where these were created and used by people who died more than fifty years ago.

Nonetheless, many popular typeface designs are still in copyright. Therefore, if you are drawing lettering by hand in a particular font (or recreating the font style in, for example, a computerised drawing program), it is likely that you will need permission from the relevant copyright owner.

If you are using a mechanical device such as a typewriter to create a document in a particular font, it is likely that you have an implied licence to reproduce the typeface in the documents you are generating.

However, if you are generating documents or designs using a computer, the issue is likely to be whether you are licensed to use the software that includes and generates the particular typeface. In these cases, check the licence agreement which accompanies the software, or any statements from the relevant company (for example, on its website, or in the “readme” files that often accompany software). These are likely to state what you can do with the software and the font/s. If you are outsourcing the printing of documents, it may be that the printing company will need its own licensed copy of the relevant font software.

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