Breach of Copyright

If you use someone else's copyrighted work without permission or a licence, you have committed a breach of copyright. It does not matter that you did not mean any harm, or that you credited the creator afterwards: the work is being used without the owner's agreement, so the owner's rights have been infringed.

The consequences for a company

• Forced to stop selling: a court can order the company to take the product off sale until the copied material has been removed. Stock already in shops may have to be recalled, and the packaging or artwork redesigned before it can go back on sale.
• Fined: the company can be ordered to pay a sum of money to the court as a punishment, on top of anything else it owes.
• Prosecuted: a serious case can be taken through the criminal courts, which means the people responsible can end up with a criminal record as well as a penalty.
• Sued for financial loss: the copyright owner can take the company to court to claim back the money they lost — for example the licence fee they would have charged, plus any sales they missed — along with their legal costs.

Worked example

A small games studio called Bright Buoy Games releases a puzzle game with a photographer's picture of a harbour on its start screen. The designer found the picture on a blog and used it without asking. The photographer spots it, proves the photo is hers, and complains. The studio has to pull the game from the app store while new artwork is made, pays the photographer a backdated licence fee and compensation, and covers its own legal bills. A game that was meant to make money has now cost the studio far more than a licence ever would, and the complaints piling up on its social media have put off new customers.

That mix of lost sales, penalties and damage to reputation is why a breach is treated so seriously, and why producers sort out permissions, fees and licences before the work is used — see Using Copyrighted Material Legally.