"Intellectual Property"

Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
    U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 8





Copyright History

circa 1440 - Gutenberg printing press
reduced cost & time of copying

circa 1550 - Stationers' Company (England)
gave publishers control of copying

1710 - Statute of Anne
gave authors control of copying

1790 - first U.S. copyright law
1886 - Berne Convention
1976 - major revision of U.S. copyright law
1988 - U.S. joins Berne Convention
1998 - Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
1998 - DMCA
present - SOPA/PIPA, ACTA, Trans Pacific Partnership




U.S. Copyright - 1790

Covered: books, maps, charts
Duration: 14 years + 14 year extension
Formalities: registration & notice required
copies of work deposited w/ government offices
Exclusive rights: copying & distribution


Not covered: music, newspapers, paintings/drawings, etc




U.S. Copyright - Present

Covered: "original works of authorship" (literary, dramatic, musical, artistic)
including: any text, music (scores, lyrics), pictorial works (maps, drawings, paintings, prints, photographs), sound recordings, motion pictures, sculpture, dance notation, architecture
Duration: life + 70 years
works for hire: 95 years (or 120 if unpublished, whichever is shorter)
Formalities: no registration or notice required
copyright exists immediately, upon "fixation" of work
registration required for infringement suit
Exclusive rights:
  • copying & distribution
  • derivative works
  • public performance
  • public display
  • sound recordings - digital audio transmission
  • visual art - "moral rights" (attribution & integrity)
Not covered:
  • works not fixed in tangible medium (dance performance, improvised speech, etc)
  • words/titles/names/short phrases
  • "mere listings of ingredients or contents"
  • ideas / procedures / methods
  • facts / information containing no original authorship (calendars, phone numbers, measurements)




Some Copyright Details

originality
a work must demonstrate "originality" to be copyrightable
no standard exists
generally requires "some minimal level of creativity"

Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co (1991)
Bleistein v. Donaldson (1903) - "it would be a dangerous undertaking" for courts to decide what is worthy of copyright (fine art v. advertising)


idea vs. expression
ideas are not copyrightable
only a specific expression of an idea is copyrightable
patents are considered to cover ideas
license
grant of permission to use a work
can be restricted to a defined time, context, territory
can be exclusive or non-exclusive
does not transfer ownership

assignment of copyright
transfer of ownership of copyright
must be in writing
can transfer individual rights

work for hire
work made by an employee, "within the scope of his/her employment"
or, commissioned work, explicitly identified in writing as "made for hire"
employer/commissioner owns copyright




Fair Use

Allowed use of a work, which would otherwise be considered infringement

e.g. quoting a line of text in a review, satirizing a film

no firm definition of what is allowed

general determining factors:
www.ccumc.org/copyright/ccguides.html - Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia



First Sale Doctrine

Purchaser is allowed to sell or give away legally acquired work
Without needing permission from copyright holder

Generally also includes renting
But not for phonorecords & some software

Computer software companies claim software is not sold, merely licensed ("EULA") & therefore First Sale doesn't apply



Obtaining a Copyright

Copyright exists as soon as work is "fixed" in a medium

Copyright notice & registration no longer mandatory, but help when suing for violations

Registration forms: www.copyright.gov/eco/





Historic Cases

Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios (1984)
Betamax Case

"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone."
     - Jack Valenti, 1982

Declared that devices with "significant non-infringing uses" are not illegal



Cases

"Happy Birthday To You"

"Good Morning to All" written circa 1893 - public domain

Sometime later, modified to "Happy Birthday to You"

Copyright registered in 1935

Warner Music currently claims ownership

Class action lawsuit by Good Morning to You Productions et al in progress




Cases

"This Land"

Parody version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land"

Ludlow Music threatened to sue for copyright infringement
JibJab sued to confirm fair use right
Settled out of court

JibJab attorney's found 1945 publication that was not renewed





DMCA

OCILLA (Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act) has "safe harbor" provision for service provider websites such as YouTube & Wikipedia

Viacom v. YouTube
Viacom sued Google/YouTube for hosting thousands of clips infringing copyrights
court ordered YouTube to turn over terabytes of data on what users watched
2013 ruling in favor of YouTube, based on DMCA safe harbor
Lenz v. Universal Music
Lenz posted home video of child dancing to copyrighted song
Universal sent YouTube DMCA takedown notice
Lenz sent counter-notice of fair use
Lenz sued Universal for bad faith use of DMCA
judge ruled that copyright holders must consider fair use

www.chillingeffects.org





Public Domain

Works that are not under copyright control

Anyone can freely copy, distribute, derive from, etc

Usually from expiration of copyright

Works published in the U.S. are public domain if:

www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm



Sharing / Free Culture



Creative Commons License
This document is by Dave Pape, and is released under a Creative Commons License.