Thursday, 5/31/07:
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUES -- ©
LESSON: COPYRIGHT, FAIR USE, CREATIVE COMMONS
What is copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
To display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and
In the case of sound recordings*, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
(http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci)
Are copyrights transferable?
Like any other property, all or part of the rights in a work may be transferred by the owner to another.
(http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/)
What does copyright protect?
see this
faq.
Legal action
Somebody infringed my copyright. What can I do?
A party may seek to protect his or her copyrights against unauthorized use by filing a civil lawsuit in federal district court. If you believe that your copyright has been infringed, consult an attorney. In cases of willful infringement for profit, the U.S. Attorney may initiate a criminal investigation.
Could I be sued for using somebody else's work? How about quotes or samples?
If you use a copyrighted work without authorization, the owner may be entitled to bring an infringement action against you. There are circumstances under the fair use doctrine where a quote or a sample may be used without permission. However, in cases of doubt, the Copyright Office recommends that permission be obtained.
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html#permission
Do you need to file a form?
No. But it will be useful and/or neccessarry if you ever need to defend your copyright leagally.
Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright.
In the case of works made for hire, the employer and not the employee is considered to be the author. Section 101 of the copyright law defines a “work made for hire”...
(http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci)
So, if you are doing work for hire OR commissioning work for hire you may wish to explicitly define the
agreement about copyright in the contract...
History
- authorship
examples of derivative works 1508... 1863... etc.
Changes in the law
As of 1989 you don't need to incldue the © symbol on copyrighted works.
Fall 2006
Rulemaking on Exemptions from Prohibition on Circumvention of Technological Measures that Control Access to Copyrighted Works
Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors.
(http://www.copyright.gov/1201/index.html)
1998 extension
Public Domain
A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection. Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.
(http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-definitions.html#public_domain)
copyright in the digital age
- rip mix burn
- myspace, youtube, etc., user agreements
What is Fair Use?
How much of someone else's work can I use without getting permission?
Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports.
http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html#permission
Fair Use - Determining Factors:
Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered “fair,” such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1.
the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2.
the nature of the copyrighted work;
3.
amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The distinction between “fair use” and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.
(http://www.copyright.gov/)
College Art Association: Risk Assessment
Appropriation, derivative works and even copying have a long tradition in the arts...
These practices have come to require a risk assessment.
Culture Jamming/Plunder-phonics, etc
"copyright infringement is still your best enetertainment value"
Creative Commons
... a spectrum of rights ...
Tracking your use of appropriated materials
It becomes very difficult to clear an audio sample or get permission to use an image when you don't know its source