COPYRIGHT BASICS

L I B R A R Y WO

R K S H OP S P R I N

G 2 0 1 2

Linda Sharp Marsha Stevenson

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

• Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution; Article 1, Section 8 empowers Congress 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”.

• Copyright protection is provided for by law (title 17, US Code). It applies to original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Both published and unpublished works are protected.

• Copyright law was originally intended to provide a short term “monopoly” for authors for the purpose of encouraging creativity (14 years plus 14 years renewable).

• Our current copyright law confers upon copyright holders certain exclusive rights.

ORIGINAL WORKS ELIG

IBLE FOR COPYRIGHT

PROTECTION

Literary worksMusical works with accompanying wordsDramatic works with accompanying musicPictorial, graphical, and sculptural worksMotion pictures and other audiovisual

worksChoreographic worksSound and digital recordingsArchitectural worksSoftware

WHO CAN BE AN AUTHOR?

A writer

A musician or artist

A photographer

A student or professor

A company or organization

An unknown entity

But who controls the rights????

WHAT ARE THE EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS GIVEN TO

COPYRIGHT HOLDERS ?

• To prepare derivative works based upon the work; Only the owner of copyright in a work has the right to prepare, or to authorize someone else to create, a new version of that work.

• To reproduce the work• To distribute copies of the work to the

public• To perform the work publicly• To display the copyrighted work

publicly• to perform the work publicly by means

of a digital audio transmission

HOW LONG DOES COPYRIGHT PROTECTIO

N LAST?

Copyright Act of 1790 - established U.S. copyright with term of 14 years with 14-year renewal

Copyright Act of 1831 - extended the term to 28 years with 14-year renewal

Copyright Act of 1909 - extended term to 28 years with 28-year renewal

Copyright Act of 1976 - extended term to either 75 years or life of author plus 50 years

Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 - removed the requirement for renewal

Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 - extended terms to 95/120 years or life plus 70 years

Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 - criminalized some cases of copyright infringement

source: http://techliberation.com/2009/08/06/copyright-duration-and-the-mickey-mouse-curve/

WHAT CAN I USE W

ITHOUT GETTING PERMISSION????

Works you create yourself

Work not protected by federal law

Works in the Public Domain

Works governed by Creative Commons License

Works which would be considered Fair Use

FAIR USE

W O R K S I N F A V O R

• Teaching

• Research

• Scholarship

• Nonprofit educational institution

• Criticism

• Comment

• News reporting

• Transformative use

• Restricted access

• Parody

W O R K S A G A I N S T

• Commercial activity

• Profiting from use

• Entertainment

• Bad faith behavior

• Denying credit to original author

COPYRIGHT AND MUSIC

Copyright law as it pertains to music is both simple and complex. It is simple because

• the eligibility standard for copyright protection is the same for music as for other creative works, i.e., "…original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression."

• a songwriter/composer receives the same bundle of exclusive rights as creators of other original works, which is the right to reproduce, distribute, create derivative works, perform publicly, and display their work publicly.

• duration of copyright protection for original musical compositions is also standard.

It is complex because

• Multiple copyrights“I Will Always Love You”

• Multiple formats and usesSheet music, CD, mp3; Soundtrack, Live Public Performance, Digital Audio Transmission

• Different permissions and licensing for different formats and uses

• Stakes are high; money is big

THE “YOU THOUGHT I WAS EXAGGERATING” SLIDE

US COPYRIGHT OFFICE SURVEY

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/copyright_branding

MEDIA COPYRIGHTDigital Millennium Copyright Act

(1998) brought copyright into the digital age

“DRM” – Digital Rights Managementmakes it illegal to circumvent DVD encryption

Media industry is aggressive in asserting rights and prosecuting violators

MEDIA FORMAT CONVERSIONS

Easy, but illegal, to reformat works still in copyright

Legally considered “obsolete” only when playback equipment “is no longer manufactured or … reasonably available in the marketplace”

• LP to CD/MP3 converters• VHS – an “obsolete” format?

MEDIA IN AN EDUCATIONAL

SETTING

Possible to do many things in educational setting that are prohibited elsewhere

TEACH Act (2002)• Allows media use “as an

integral part of a class session”• Must be limited to students

enrolled in the class• Requires use of technology to

prevent copying

VIDEO SCREENINGS

“Education exemption” allows screenings in classrooms

“Public Performance Rights”• Viewing rights must be

purchased to legally show a film “outside of a normal circle of family and its social acquaintance”

MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION

OF AMERICA “No additional license is required to privately view a movie or other copyrighted work with a few friends and family ... However, bars, restaurants, private clubs, prisons, lodges, factories, summer camps, public libraries, daycare facilities, parks and recreation departments, churches and non-classroom use at schools and universities are all examples of situations where a public performance license must be obtained.”

http://www.m

paa.org/contentprotecti

on/public-

perform

ance-law

THE NFL AND CHURCHES

Church wanted to show 2007 Colts-Bears Super Bowl game to youth group

Planned to charge admission to cover food and show the game on a big screen ( >55” )

NFL threatened legal actionSparked Senate bill in 2008NFL compromised, for church

groups not charging admission

Example: F

all Creek Baptist

Church, In

dianapolis, 2007

IMAGES

Assume that all on the web are in copyright unless there is an explicit statement to the contrary (“Terms of Use”)

Scanning and posting online is “reproduction” and “distribution”

Each work has its own copyrightTwo possible holders: • The artist/designer• The photographer

CNN PHOTOGRAPH, COMMENCEMENT 2009

“ORPHAN” W

ORKS• When the copyright holder

can’t be identified• When the copyright holder

can’t be found

Still not legal to use freelyIf choosing to use, document

(and retain) diligent efforts to locate/contact

PHOTOGRAPHS Photographers generally hold copyrightPrivacy Rights• State laws vary• If individuals are identifiable,

should get their permissionPublicity rights• Commercial value of celebrity’s

name/image/voice• Need their consent to use

commercially

CREATIVE COMMONS

CC licenses have four major concepts:

• Attribution (giving credit)• Derivatives (whether

modifications are allowed)• Commercial or

noncommercial• Share alike (if re-using,

retain the same license)

“ … a sim

ple, standardize

d way to

grant copyrig

ht perm

issions …

”

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

• May have expired• May never have been in

copyright (e.g., government employees’ works)

• Copyright holder may have made a work publicly available

When copyrig

ht doesn

’t apply

Dorothea Lange, photographer

“Migrant Mother”1936

US GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE

“DERIVATIVE” V

S.

“TRANSFORMATIVE”

“Derivative” closely based on an existing creative work

“Transformative” based on an existing work, but modifying it significantly

Judgment call about when work is an “infringing derivative”

Judgment call

FAIR USE? INFRINGING DERIVATIVE?

M A N N Y G A R C I A , A P S H E P A R D F A I R E Y

WORK-FOR-HIRE DOCTRINE

Employers are considered copyright owners of works created by their employees within the scope of their employment

Independent contractors’ status is less clear

Should be a written contract specifying who owns copyright

NOTRE DAME’S INTELLE

CTUAL

PROPERTY POLICY

“The University will ordinarily waive its rights to intellectual property created by student creators …”

“The University owns all rights to all copyrightable materials … that are works made for hire …”

“… the University does not normally claim ownership of works such as textbooks, articles, papers, scholarly monographs, or artistic works.”

http://or.n

d.edu/tech

nology-transfe

r/for-f

aculty

/intelle

ctual-p

roperty-polic

y/

TED DRAKE - OBITUARY

“Ted Drake, an artist and illustrator who created Notre Dame’s trademark leprechaun logo, died here on Thursday …”

“Mr. Drake’s best-known creations were Notre Dame’s bearded leprechaun and the symbol of the Chicago Bulls …”

“[H]e worked as a designer at Wilson Sporting Goods in Chicago. That was where he created the logo for the University of Notre Dame in 1964.”

New York Tim

es, May 30, 2

000

NOTRE DAME LEPRECHAUN

“Mr. Drake earned a mere $50 for the logo, which was later copyrighted by the university.”

Drake obituary, New York Times, May 30, 2000