Copyrights Flashcards
Copyright grants what exclusive rights?
- ) Make copies (“reporduction” right)
- ) Make “derivative” works (new edition of a book, a sequel, a movie froma book, new version of software program, an action figure from a fictional movie character and so on)
- ) publicly distribute copies of the work (with an exception called the “first-sale doctrine”)
- ) publicly display the work.
- ) publicly perform the work
- ) inthe case of a sound recording, to pulicly perform the work by digital audio transmission (thus, you can play musical recordings without a license for the recorded perfonace over the radio waves, but you must have a license to transmit it digitally, as over the Internt)
With respect to the esclusive right to distribute
an exception is the so-called “first sale doctrine” which allos someone who has purchased or otherwise lawfully acquired software to resell or give away that copy.
With the respect to the soudn recording public performance
this provision only relates only to the copyright in the recorded performance; to broadcase a musical recording over the radio waves, you must have a license on the underlying musical composition even though you do not need a license for the recorded performance.
US copyright Law
passed in 1790 most recent enactment in Copyright Act of 1976. Copyright term has been extrended numerous times, beginning with a term of 14 years (renewable once, for a total of 28 years) then 28 year (renewable once, for a total of 56 years) then the life of the author +50 years. in 1998, Congress extended the term once more adding 20 years of protection to expressive works purchased in the future but also to any work then still protected. So now it is the life of an author + 70 years.
Copyright ownership
A work created by an employee while acting in the scoope of his employment is a work-for-hire with owenership of the copyright automatically and immediately vesting the employer. In addition, a work created for the employer by an independent contractor can be a work for hire if:
- ) the employer and independent contractor made a written agrememnt before they started.
- ) the agreement “specifially commisioned the work as work-for-hire)
- ) the work was within one of nine categories
a. ) a contribution to a collective work b.) a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work c.) a translation d.) a supplmenetary e.) a compilation f.) an instructional text g.) a test h.) answer material for a test i.) an atlas.
The Copyright Act enumerates several types of protected works
- Literary works
- ) Musical works
- ) darmatic works
- ) pantomines and choreographic work
- ) pictoial, graphic, and sculptural work
- ) Motion pictures and other AV works
- ) Sound recordings
- ) Arhcitectural works
not intended to be exclusive. Deisgned to protect “original works of authorship”. Original does not mean the same thing as novel, bit it simply means that the expression was original to this particular person.
Facts
Facts are not protected by copyright.
A database complier has a “compilation copyright” in any original expression manifested in its selction and arrangement of the data, but does not protect the data itself.
Ideas
Copyright protects original expression of ideas, but not the idease themsleves. Someone else may freely take the idease from my book, article, or other work, but not my expression of those ideas.
Merger Doctrine
An expression of an idea may not be protected by copyright if there is only one way, or only a very small number of ways, to express the idea. Under the “merger doctrine” the expression “mergers” with the idea.
Can apply to many portions of any type of epressive work, it is more commonly encountered in works that are motivated maily by a desire to acheive effective and efficient functionality.
Works such as maps, directories, software, and others whose main value is in the functions it performs rather than its creative expressions, the need to achieve certain functions in a relatively effectiv eand efficient way greatly limits the way that certain ideas can be express. These types of works will include original expressions that are protected by copyright, but they usually will include a large number of uncopyrightable elements, including expressios that are treated as unprotectable ideas because of the merger doctrine.
Scenes a faire
lack of protection for scense a faire. Scense a faire are standard techniques necessary to convey particular ideas such as description of the sterotypiclal Jewish mother, or Irish father.
“Sweat of the Brow” doctrine
To establish infringement, two elements must be proven
- ) ownership of a valid copyright
- ) copying of constituent elements of the work that are original.
“the essense of the copyright” and a constitutional requirement. It is not to reward the labor oa authors, but to promote the progress of Scient and the Arts.
Fixation in a Tangible Medium
Original expression must be “fixed in a tangible medium” The Copyright Act provides that the fixation is sificient if the work “can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.”
Unfixed works are not protected by the 1976 Copyright Act.
Formalities
Registration of the US Copyright Office is not required for copyright protection. Moreover, since 1989 there is no longer any requirement that a copyright notice be paced on te work.
Still a good idea to have them. Can seve the practical purpose of emphasizing to others that the work is protected.
Infiringement
To prove copryright infringement, the owner must first prove that the defendant had access to the plaintiff’s copyrighted work. Courts will presume access, however, in the case of works that have been distributed in a relatively wide fashion.
After proving access, in most caes the plaintiff can prove infringement by showing that the defendant’s work is substantially similar to the plaintiff’s work.
In some caes, the test for infringement is “virtual identity” rather than substantial similarity. The defendant’s work must be virtually identical to the plaintiff’s in cases where the plaintiff’s copyrighted work has only a so-called “thin copyright,” such as the copyriht in a map or directory or the compiler’s copyright in the original selction and arrangement of a datase.
Remedies
A successful plaintiff in a copyright infringement action usually receives actual damages plus the defendant’s profits to the extent they were not calculated into the damage award. If the plaintiff’s have registered their copyright within three months after publication, they may elect between proving actual damages or receiving “statutory damages of $750- $30,000 per act of ingringement. Can be up to $150,00 per inringing act of willful infringement. Can constitute a federal crime.
