Introduction To Copyright Law

COPYRIGHT LAWIt’s mostly about who gets the money.

Copyright law seeks to protect the financial interests of the person who creates something like a song, book, or similar creation.

The basic idea is that the person who created something is entitled to the profits earned by from it.

Copyright infringement and plagiarism are two different issues.

Copyright is a federal law that protects original works from being copied and distributed without the author’s permission unless one of the exceptions applies.

Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s work as one’s own or lack of ttribution. There is no federal or state plagiarism law but there can certainly be severe repercussions for plagiarizing.

Why do we have a copyright law?

If authors, song writers, and other creative people don’t get their fair share of the profits earned from one of their creations, there is little or no financial incentive to create something.

Without financial incentive to create, there will be further things created.

And if people who can write songs, write books, create paintings or other creative things are not doing that, then our society is missing out on something valuable and important.

Therefore, the law provides when people are creating things that are making money, they should get the profit from their creation.

One important thing to remember about copyright law is that the creative person can sell or assign the copyright to someone else.

When that happens, the creator does not get the profits but instead the person who now owns the copyright receives the profits

The owner of a copyright has the exclusive right to do the following: Reproduce copies of the work.

Prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work. For example: the owner of a copyright on a book has the movie rights – the right to make a movie based on a book.

Distribute copies of the work by sale, rental, lease, or lending.

Publicly perform the work (if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work or a pantomime, motion picture or audiovisual work).

Publicly display the work (if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, sculptural, graphic, or pictorial work -- including the individual images of a film -- or a pantomime).

The legal penalties for copyright infringement are:

Infringer pays the actual dollar amount of damages and profits.

The law provides a range from $200 to $150,000 for each work infringed.Infringer pays for all attorneys’ fees and court costs.

The Court can issue an injunction to stop the infringing acts.

The Court can impound the illegal works.

The infringer can go to jail.

What is covered by copyright law?Copyright protection extends to "original works of authorship" that are "fixed in any tangible medium of expression."

"Original works of authorship" include most of the things we read, view or hear in the classroom, such as: books, journals, movies, art, music, and content posted on the Internet.

Copyright protects:

motion picturesphotographic imagesdrawings and sketchesmusic television programspaintingsinteriorsweb videosweb artlandscapesfurnituredesigns for buildingswritten words

Copyright protection does not extend to:ideas,

procedures,

processes,

systems,

methods of operation, or discoveries,

regardless of the forms in which they are described, Illustrated or embodied in a work.

Items in the public domain are not protected by copyright law:

These things are considered to be in the public domain

1. Anything published before 1923.

2. A work published before 1978 which does not carry a copyright notice.

3.Most United States government documents.

Once a work has acquired public domain status it is no longer eligible for copyright protection.

When do copyright privileges attach?

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

According to the copyright office:

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf

The use of a copyright notice is no longer required under U.S. law, although it is often beneficial.

No longer required

Congress has decided that in certain circumstances people should be allowed to use part of a something protected by copyright law if the use is FAIR USE.

The Fair Use Doctrine basically says this:

You can use parts of a copyrighted work in certain instances without getting permission from the copyright owner in certain instances.

There are broad rules for determining whether a particular use constitutes Fair Use.

THE FAIR USE DOCTRINE

The legal doctrine of Fair Use allows for portions of copyrighted materials to be used without permission of the copyright owner, provided that:

the use is fair and reasonable:

does not substantially impair the value of the materials

and does not curtail the profits reasonably expected by the owner

FAIR USE

A claim of FAIR USE would probably be rejected if the particular use of an item would lessen the amount of money that the copyright owner could make.

Because copyright law is basically about the money,

Take a look at this amusing and entertaining video about the doctrine of fair use.

https://youtu.be/CJn_jC4FNDo?list=PLXR2sEd002fUbMQAiTbD0dXdkDwUkbKLn

A Fair(y) Use Tale

There are special rules setting forth how copyrighted material can be used in an academic setting.

Copyright and Fair Use in the Educational Environment

“Publishers and the academic community have established a set of educational fair use guidelines to provide “greater certainty and protection” for teachers.

While the guidelines are not part of the federal Copyright Act, they are recognized by courts and the Copyright Office as minimum standards for fair use in education.

A teacher or pupil following the guidelines can feel comfortable that a use falling within these guidelines is a permissible fair use and not an infringement. “

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/academic-and-educational-permissions/non-coursepack/

There are rules which establish what constitutes FAIR USE at a school or college.

At an educational institute you may make the following copies:

One chapter from a book.

One article from a journal issue or newspaper. A chart, diagram, drawing, graph, cartoon, or picture.

Multiple excerpts from a single book or journal issue is permitted If the total amount copied is less that 10% of the whole book or journal.

A short story, short essay, or short poem.

Copies made within those guidelines would be considered FAIR USE.

These rules are considered by some people to be too restrictive for academic needs. It may be that the fair use doctrine would allow you to make other copies in other situations.

You may think that something you want to do not mentioned in the guidelines should be also considered FAIR USE and not a violation of copyright law.

Just keep in mind that one of the possible consequences for violating is a term of imprisonment in the federal penitentiary.

To learn more about copyright, view these informative and entertaining videos.

https://youtu.be/eATwzWz1Dzw?list=PLXR2sEd002fUbMQAiTbD0dXdkDwUkbKLnhttps://youtu.be/eEB5MYcj-Ns?list=PLXR2sEd002fUbMQAiTbD0dXdkDwUkbKLn