Miscellaneous Terms
- originality
- a work must demonstrate "originality" to be copyrightable
no standard exists
generally requires "some minimal level of creativity"
- publication
- offering/distribution to the public for sale, renting, etc
public performance or display is not publication
- 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
- 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: purpose and character of use,
nature of copyrighted work, importance of portion used in relation
to whole work, effect on market for copyrighted work
- public domain
- works that are not under copyright control
usually from expiration of copyright
anyone can freely copy, distribute, derive from, etc
- compulsory license
- license for certain uses which exists automatically
copyright owner cannot prevent the license
well-defined fee must be paid
e.g. recording a piece of music, once one recording has been published
- 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/commisioner owns copyright
- idea vs. expression
- ideas are not copyrightable
only a specific expression of an idea is copyrightable
patents are considered to cover ideas