How to get the copyright copy right

Copyrights in sound recordings last for fifty years and files have to be retained for many years after the expiry date. Copyright files contain examples of the original album or CD artwork, promotional materials and related correspondence - much of it in colour and in a variety of shapes and sizes up to A3.

When a longstanding client in the entertainments industry decided to set up its own copyrights department, the firm managing their interests were asked to hand over the relevant copyright documents. As this would not relieve the management company of their obligations prior to the handover date, it was clear that they needed to make copies of this extensive archive should any query or dispute arise.

A project manager was appointed to manage the handover and create an archive copy of the copyright files – over 1,000 in total. Another member of staff was given the task and set about photocopying the material in-house using an office copier.

"It became clear at the end of the first week that progress was painfully slow and we would not be able to hand over the files to our client on time."

The management company concluded that scanning the files to create digital copies was the way forward. Having searched for ‘document scanning’ in Google, Preview Services came out top of the list. A sales account manager from Preview visited them to explain what was involved.

"I didn’t need much persuasion as I was pleasantly surprised at how cost effective the scanning solution actually was when compared to the cost of doing it in-house."

"The entire job was completed in less than a week and the scanned and indexed images were returned to the management company on an external hard disc drive. The original documents were returned to the client in good time for the handover."

"We were absolutely delighted with the result for both quality and turnaround speed. Now that we have the images readily available on the network, the benefits of immediate access are becoming very apparent, so much so that we are now looking at offering the service to our other clients."

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