Village Helpdesk

Copyright Policy

Statement:

Village Helpdesk acknowledges that copyright is a valuable part of Village Helpdesk's intellectual property portfolio.

To ensure that Village Helpdesk can maintain, use and protect its copyright, the company expects all members of staff to act in compliance with this copyright policy.

This copyright policy is not part of a member of staff’s contract of employment and can be amended at any time.

Any breach of this copyright policy is a serious indiscretion and may result in disciplinary action.

People covered by this policy 

This policy is applicable to all persons working for Village Helpdesk at all levels, including directors, senior managers, employees, consultants, part-time, and casual staff (collectively, hereinafter referred to as staff throughout the rest of this policy) 

What is covered by the policy?

This copyright policy applies to all original work created by or contracted for development by the company and its members of staff including, but not limited to Blog Posts, Images, Content, Logos, any and all computer Graphics, and Any Copy found at Domain or partner domain.

Establishing copyright protection

Upon creation, the author should mark all original works, whether draft or final versions, with the following:

“This original work was created by [NAME], [JOB TITLE], on [DATE]”

If possible, each piece of original work should be signed by the author. Complete records shall be established and maintained for the storage and easy access to copyright records. This recordal system shall be maintained by Marketing Department. 

The following information should be recorded in the recordal system:

Notes outlining the key stages or development along with the staff involved in each respective stage
All draft designs or works which demonstrate the development of the work
Any emails, letters, meeting minutes or other internal correspondence relevant to the development of the work
Date of publication (if published)
Details of the author (including name, position, job title etc)

Use of copyright notice 

If original work created by a member of staff is to be published, a copyright notice shall be included such as: 

“© [year of publication], [full name of copyright owner]”

If such a work is updated, changed, or amended in any way, the original date and date of update, change or amendment shall be included in the copyright notice.


Ownership of copyright in work created by employees 

The Village Helpdesk's employment agreements govern ownership of copyright (and other intellectual property rights) and situations whereby an employee produces original work during the course of employment.

Third parties and copyright

If a member of staff commissions work from a third party, the member of staff should discuss with the Marketing Department to discuss whether any action is needed to maintain ownership and protect any resultant copyright. It should also be considered whether any assignment, license or other form or arrangement regarding the copyright is required. 

The Marketing Department should maintain complete records of any contractual arrangements, such as assignments and licenses, agreed to with third-party contractors.

Third-party copyright

Staff should respect third-party copyright when carrying out their duties. Members of staff should, during the course of their employment, duly consider whether any third-party copyright applies to any resource, whether in electronic or hard copy form.

Members of staff should refrain from using any resource, the use of which would constitute an infringement of third-party copyright.

Actual or Suspected Copyright Infringement

If a member of staff becomes aware or reasonably believes that there has been an infringement, by a third party, of Village Helpdesk’s copyright, that member of staff should promptly inform the Marketing Department with details of the infringement.

If a member of staff reasonably believes there has been copyright infringement by a colleague of a third party’s rights, they should promptly notify Marketing Department. 

Dealing with Requests to Use or Reproduce the Company’s Work

Any requests, whether internal or external, to use or replicate any of the company’s resources or works should be referred to the Marketing Department for deliberation. 

The Marketing Department shall keep records of any licenses or other forms of consent given in response to any requests made by any persons.