E-Learning Concepts and Techniques

Chapter 6 - Information Ownership

Information ownership is about copyright. The original U.S. Copyright Act was designed to protect the interests of authors of original works of literature, maps and charts against unauthorized copying and against the selling of unauthorized copies. Since then the U.S. Copyright Act has undergone some significant changes. Copyright on the global level is continuing to evolve and change as well. Many of those changes are the result of technological advances in the distribution and digital format(s) of copyrighted materials and the ensuing technological advances in copying that copyrighted material.

6.1 The Origin and History of Copyright

Nicole Forst, Michael Bond and John Zelenak

Hot Buttons in Copyright History

Modern copyright laws have had to be expanded to include such areas as digital art, computer software, and other digital works. The first major revision of copyright laws to encompass these areas was in 1990 when congress amended the law to include the unlawful distribution of computer software. The first major case to involve this form of copyright infringement of digital materials was Playboy Enterprises Inc. and Frena, an online electronic bulletin board operator when a member of the bulletin board posted a digitized photograph from Playboy Magazine on the board and another member downloaded it.

The courts found it does not matter that Defendant Frena may have been unaware of the copyright infringement. Intent to infringe is not needed to find copyright infringement. Intent or knowledge is not an element of infringement and thus even an innocent infringer is liable for infringement; rather innocence is significant to a trial court when it fixes statutory damages, which is a remedy equitable in nature. (TIMELINE: A history of copyright in the United States, 2002)

Some of the other major issues that have surfaced throughout the modern, digital age of copyright protection include:

The modern revisions to copyright law, nationally and internationally, prompted by the digital age in which we live are probably the ones we can remember most easily. Here is an account of some of the details in the origin and history of copyright law that led to those landmark changes.

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The Origin of Copyright

The U.S. Copyright Act of 1790 was only the beginning of copyright law in the United States of America and was built upon the nearly 130 years of copyright law(s) in use in England. The Licensing Act of 1662 in England was instituted in response to the invention and growing proliferation of the printing press. The Licensing Act of 1662 was established to grant printing and publishing rights of licensed books to certain printers and was administered by the Stationers' Company, who had been given censorship authority.

By 1695, the Licensing Act of 1662 had not been renewed or updated and government censorship fell into a state of disrepair. While the Licensing Act of 1662 was less about the ownership of printed works than about governmental control of the content of printed works, the Parliamentary approved Statue of Anne in 1710 addressed the author's copyright of printed works to be a period of fourteen years and could be renewed for a second period of fourteen years provided the author was still alive.

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The Beginning of Copyright Law in the U.S.

In 1787, as part of the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;... 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; (TIMELINE: A history of copyright in the United States, 2002)

In three short years, the First Congress enacted the U.S. Copyright Act of 1790, an Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of Such Copies. This act granted American authors and inventors copyright for a period of fourteen years and the option to renew the copyright for an additional fourteen years.

The goal of the act was to encourage authors and inventors to create original works to the benefit of the author or inventor and to the benefit of the general population and to the United States of America. By providing the author or inventor with a limited monopoly over the control of their works, the U.S. government hoped to stimulate works of significant use and scientific merit.

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Revisions to the Original U.S. Copyright Act

The major revisions were enacted in 1831, 1870, 1909 and 1976. Each revision was implemented to extend greater control of the copy written work to the author while protecting the public from undue monopoly of the copyrighted works. The early revision dealt primarily with the length of time of the copyright. The 1976 revision also addressed forms of copying to include newer copying technologies.

The 1831 Revision

Previously, copyright protection afforded the author the right to restrict copying of the work for a period of fourteen years, with a renewal of the original copyright for an additional fourteen years. In 1831, the original copyright was extended to a period of twenty-eight years with the option of an additional fourteen-year extension. This revision was claimed by Congress to be enacted to give the same protection enjoyed by British authors to American authors. The new twenty-eight year term applied to current works to which the copyright had not expired as well as to future works.

The 1870 Revision

This was a change in the administration of copyright registration from individual district courts to a centralized registration agency within the Library of Congress Copyright Office. No other changes were made at this time.

The 1909 Revision

This revision included two significant changes. It extended copyright protection to all works of authorship, and extended the length of protection to twenty-eight years with an optional renewal of twenty-eight years. The object in the latter change was to find a balance between protecting the author's profitability and the limiting the public's exposure to undue monopoly of copyrighted material.

The main object to be desired in expanding copyright protection accorded to music has been to give the composer an adequate return for the value of his composition, and it has been a serious and difficult task to combine the protection of the composer with the protection of the public, and to so frame an act that it would accomplish the double purpose of securing to the composer an adequate return for all use made of his composition and at the same time prevent the formation of oppressive monopolies, which might be founded upon the very rights granted to the composer for the purpose of protecting his interests (H.R. Rep. No. 2222, 60th Cong., 2nd Session., p. 7 [1909]). (TIMELINE: A history of copyright in the United States, 2002)

The 1976 Revision

This revision was the first to begin to address new electronic copying technology as it became more available to the public and to begin to bring the U.S. Copyright Act into alignment with international copyright law. In this revision, copyright protection was adjusted to the life of the author plus 50 years. This protection preempted the original copyright act and all previous revisions. Copyright protection was extended to unpublished works. This revision also fully addressed and detailed fair use.

Section 108 which allowed photocopying without permission by libraries for the purpose of scholarship, preservation, or interlibrary loan was added. The section stated, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. (TIMELINE: A history of copyright in the United States, 2002)

These four factors determined fair use; nature of the copyrighted work, purpose and character of the use, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the whole, and the effect of the use on the potential market.

Classroom guidelines were included in a House Report accompanying the 1976 revision. Further, Congress appointed The National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) to develop guidelines for the minimum standards of educational fair use. According to the appointment, The CONTU guidelines were developed to assist librarians and copyright proprietors in understanding the amount of photocopying for use in interlibrary loan arrangements permitted under the copyright law. (TIMELINE: A history of copyright in the United States, 2002)

Further Revisions were made, many as a result of changes in technology.

The Berne Convention

The Berne Convention is an international agreement about copyright, which was first adopted in Berne, Switzerland in 1886. In 1988, the United States became a Berne Signatory, which means that it adheres to this International Copyright Law. This also opened up the opportunity to share works and copyrights with 24 other countries. Finally the US becoming a Berne Signatory eliminated the requirement of copyright notice for copyright protection.

1990 Circulation of Computer Software

The Copyright Act was amended in 1990 to include computer software. It was stated that it is prohibited to lend computer software commercially. Libraries are allowed to lend out software but the software must contain a copyright warning on it.

Early 1990's

During 1992 Congress made an Amendment to Section 304 of Title 17. This allowed for the automatic renewal of copyrights. This was later overwritten by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.

In 1993 a group called The Working Group on Intellectual Property was created to see if Copyright Law and the National Information Infrastructure (NII) were effective. The following year (1994) The Working Group on Intellectual Property held hearings and other activities to see the effectiveness of Copyright and thus a report was created called the Green Paper.

After it was released more hearings were held to see the reactions to the report. Also in 1994 Conference on Fair Use (CONFU) was held. This conference was set to discuss the Fair Use Agreement in an electronic medium. Guidelines were created for educational multimedia uses, and proposed guidelines were created in a number of other areas.

1995 Release of the White Paper

In 1995 The Working Group on Intellectual Property released the White Paper, Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure, which had a list of recommended ways to amend the Copyright Act of 1976, and had a legal analysis of the Copyright Law in its current state (1995).

In the actual White Paper a list of recommendations are as follows:

For more information on the White Paper  go to http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/doc/ipnii/ which has the White Paper in its entirety and goes into more details then what is written here.

1996 Database Protection Legislation

1996 saw the creation of the Database Investment and Intellectual Property and Anti-piracy Act. This act was to try and protect databases for fifteen years against unauthorized extractions. Variations on this act were introduced in 1999 and discussed until 2002.

Also in 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) met in Geneva, Switzerland; eventually they adopted versions of two treaties that approached copyright in a new way. They also came up with a Fair Use Statement for the Digital Era. The Fair Use provision states Additional provisions of the law allow uses specifically permitted by Congress to further educational and library activities. The preservation and continuation of these balanced rights in an electronic environment as well as in traditional formats are essential to the free flow of information and to the development of an information infrastructure that serves the public interest. (Fair Use in the electronic age, 2001)

Sonny Bono Extension Act

This act created the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) and what it did was change copyright from the life of the author plus 50 years to life of the author plus seventy years. This is applied to works that are under copyright on the date that this law was implemented. Libraries, archives and non-profit educational institutions have certain exemptions that are allowed.

1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

This law implemented 5 different things. They are the WIPO Internet treaties, safe harbors for online service providers, permitted temporary copies of computer programs during computer maintenance, misc. amendments to the Copyright Act, and created protection for boat hull designs.

The DMCA has rulemakings that occur every three years. For more information see "Federal Relations and Information Policy" (2005) on the Association of Research Libraries web site.

1999 Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act

This act increased the fines for copyright infringement. Minimum payment for infringement is now $750 and the maximum is now $30,000.

2000 Library of Congress Ruling on DMCA

In October 2000, Library of Congress announced that there are exemptions in two narrow classes of works. They are lists of websites that are blocked or filtered out by software and literary works. It also includes computer programs and databases. Full details can be found in Anticircumvention Rulemaking, (2000) at the U.S. Copyright Office web site.

2002 Senate Approves Distance Education Legislation

The TEACH Act was approved in late 2002, some benefits of this act are: more materials that can be used for distance education, deliverability of the content to students that are not in the classroom, keep archives of classes on servers, or a digital format, and converting some materials from paper based to digital formats. With the TEACH Act there are a lot of conditions or provisions.

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6.1 References

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Section 6.2 Creative Commons License

Melanie Hurta

Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Commons licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators. We have built upon the all rights reserved concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary some rights reserved approach. We're a nonprofit organization. All of our tools are free. (Creative Commons [CC],2006).

The idea underlying Creative Commons is that some people may not want to exercise all of the intellectual property rights the law affords them. We believe there is an unmet demand for an easy yet reliable way to tell the world Some rights reserved or even No rights reserved.

Many people have long since concluded that all-out copyright doesn't help them gain the exposure and widespread distribution they want. Many entrepreneurs and artists have come to prefer relying on innovative business models rather than full-fledged copyright to secure a return on their creative investment. Still others get fulfillment from contributing to and participating in an intellectual commons.

For whatever reasons, it is clear that many citizens of the Internet want to share their work -- and the power to reuse, modify, and distribute their work -- with others on generous terms. Creative Commons intends to help people express this preference for sharing by offering the world a set of licenses on our website, at no charge. (CC, 2006)

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Creative Commons

Creative Commons consists of Creative Commons Corporation, a Massachusetts (United States based) charitable corporation and Creative Commons International, a UK non-for-profit company limited by guarantee. Volunteer leads living in different jurisdictions help to promote the idea of Creative Commons. The project leads and Creative Commons International are independent and separate from Creative Commons Corporation. They collaborate to promote Creative Commons licenses and tools.

Creative Commons has created Common Content – a subsidiary. Commoncontent.org is an open catalog of Creative Commons licensed content. (Common Content [ComC], 2006) Currently, it contains millions of works cataloged into one location with its own search engine. It is a storage house for Public Domain and Creative Commons Copyrighted works to be available to others, whether contributors or users.

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Globalization and Copyright

Because the Internet has broken the boundaries of states, countries, cultures, and social niches, there is an opportunity for creative people to express themselves like never before. The digital revolution has given these people the tools needed to produce and distribute works in a high, professional quality. The Internet and electronic tools have allowed others to create new, derivative or collective works on a global level, in a decentralized manner, and at comparatively low cost (CC, 2006). Together, the Internet and the digital revolution have positioned authors, artists and educators in such a way that many of them desire the types of copy rights offered by Creative Commons.

Globalization has not only affected corporations and the business sector, it has been seen the areas of science and education. The free encyclopedia Wikipedia and the free and open source software community are examples of these sociological and economic phenomena. The activities of many contributors to projects in these areas are not motivated by the desire to gain (immediate) financial benefit but by the desire to learn, to get recognition, and also to help others. (CC, 2006)

Currently, Creative Commons Metadata can be embedded in a variety of formats:

Unfortunately, the flipside of these exciting technologies and global information access is that these same technologies and global opportunities are being used for illegal copyright violations. Many consumers, in particular young people, have come to regard it as normal to disrespect the legal and legitimate claims of creators and producers of content to be paid for the use of their works. (CC, 2006)

Large right holders have begun a campaign to reduce copyright infringements. Unfortunately, some of their methods have been successful, and unfortunately for those creative peoples, who want to gain exposure and freely distribute their works on their terms, been a detriment.

The large right holders have included the following in their methods:

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Categories of Creative Commons Copyrights

Currently, there are three categories of Creative Commons Copyrights:

Attribution
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request.
Noncommercial
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

One must not think that he is giving up all rights to his work. Each of the Creative Commons Copyrights has inherited baseline rights and restrictions.

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Baseline Rights and Restrictions in all Licenses

All Creative Commons licenses have many important features in common:

Every license will help you to:

Every license requires licensees:

Every license allows licensees (provided they live up to your conditions):

Every license:

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Creative Commons and Types of Applications

CreativeCommons.org wants everyone's contribution to be custom-copyrighted, that they offer several applications with the Creative Commons Copyrights built into them. The following is a list from their website.

Photography Applications

SnapGallery: [Windows] Drag a folder of photos on your desktop onto this script and it will automatically build you a Gallery of HTML pages. You can select a license during setup that will be embedded in each gallery page.

Weblog Applications

Movable Type: [server software] A robust weblogging system that allows you to select and apply a license to your individual blogs. Displays the button and metadata automatically.

Manila: [server software] Another weblog management system that allows authors to select licenses for their blogs, displaying the button and metadata in your site's template.

Squarespace: [service] A website- and blog-publishing service that allows users to select a CC license for their sites and displays a license button and metadata automatically.

Web Applications

Archive.org: An archive of content, the Open Source Movies section displays Creative Commons licenses and lets anyone add their own movies under a license. The Open Source Audio section does the same, but for audio files.

YMDI: Youth Media Distribution is a teen-themed offshoot of the documentary filmmaking non-profit Media Rights. Teens can upload films they have created, get information on how to distribute films, and license their films for use by others.

Ticketstubs.org: Share stories of past concerts, movies, and events. When you contribute a story, you can license your story for use by others.

Bumperactive.com: Create your own bumper sticker. The CC license engine is integrated to Bumperactive's upload process.

Mobile Applications

WINKsite: A mobile publishing system that allows you to select and apply a license to your mobile site & blog. Displays the button and metadata is automatically included in feeds.

In conclusion, Creative Commons Copyright seems like a perfect fit for those who want to distribute their works freely, yet be given the recognition that they deserve.

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6.2 References

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6.3 The Future of Copyright

Ken Dunlap and John Zelenak

Copyright and the Economy

Copyright has always been about the money. Well, it's almost always been about the money. The first copyright law in England, the Licensing Act of 1662, was about censorship and suppression of non-religious or anti-religious texts. Actually, that was about the money as well. The Church of England, like many religious movements of the time, relied on the ignorance of its congregation to religious and secular alternatives in order generate a revenue stream.

Whereas the well-government and regulating of Printers and Printing Presses is matter of Publique care and of great concernment especially considering that by the general licentiousnes of the late times many evil disposed persons have been encouraged to print and sell heretical schismatical blasphemous seditious and treasonable Bookes Pamphlets and Papers and still doe continue such theire unlawfull and exorbitant practice to the high dishonour of Almighty God the endangering the peace of these Kingdomes and raising a disaffection to His most Excellent Majesty and His Government For prevention whereof no surer meanes can be advised then by reducing and limiting the number of Printing Presses and by ordering and setling the said Art or Mystery of Printing by Act of Parliament in manner as herein after is expressed. – Licensing Act of 1662 (Volume 5, Amendment I (Speech and Press), Document 1, 2000)

The ruling parties saw this as a way to control the masses, and, most importantly for this discussion, to establish and maintain an institution that would help to provide a basis for a national economy. In the later revision to, or replacement of, this English law with the Statute of Anne in 1710 it was made more clear that encouraging the creation of original works by protecting the owner's right to profit from them was the main goal of copyright. It stands to reason then, if someone is turning a profit, that profit can be taxed and can simultaneously stimulate the economy.

Whereas Printers, Booksellers, and other Persons, have of late frequently taken the Liberty of Printing, Reprinting, and Publishing, or causing to be Printed, Reprinted, and Published Books, and other Writings, without the Consent of the Authors or Proprietors of such Books and Writings, to their very great Detriment, and too often to the Ruin of them and their Families: For Preventing therefore such Practices for the future, and for the Encouragement of Learned Men to Compose and Write useful Books; May it please Your Majesty, that it may be Enacted, and be it Enacted by the Queens most Excellent Majesty,... (Statute of Anne)

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Copyright and the U.S. Economy

The First Congress of the United States enacted the U.S. Copyright Act of 1790, an Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of Such Copies. This act provided copyright protection to the author of an original work. Congress established this act to both protect the financial interests of the author and to encourage the stimulation of the national economy.

The more protected the financial interests of the author are, the more likely it will be that more authors will engage in creating profitable, original works. The more profitable, original works created by authors, the more the national economy is stimulated.

Each of the early revisions of the original act served to strengthen the protection to authors of original works in terms of the length of time of protection. Some of the later revisions dealt with emerging copying technologies and were established to address the protection of recorded and printed works.

As new technology is created for the playback of recorded, copyrighted materials, new copyright protection technology is created. Copy-protection of magnetic recordings is introduced with VHS videos. Self-destructing, one time use, commercially recorded DVDs are available from web-based movie rental operations. You watch it once and it is no longer available for viewing. This is referred to as a technical protection measure (TPM).

Copy-protection and TPM refer to the technologies that restrict or control the use and access of digital media content via electronic devices using digital viewing and listening technologies. These measures have increasing in technological complexity as distribution of copyrighted works has become available via new technology.

The Berne Convention, named for the first meeting place of the original signatory countries, Berne, Switzerland has been around for quite some time. Originally convened in 1886, it was established to provide common copyright protection for non-native authors of original works in countries outside their own country.

The U.S. joined the Berne Convention in 1988, one hundred and two years after it was founded. Why did it take the U.S. so long to join, was it because until 1988, with the advent of digital media, there was no economic advantage for the U.S. to join? With the proliferation of U.S. made digital media being copied and distributed across the World Wide Web without proper compensation to the U.S. author, the U.S. industries supporting the U.S. authors, and in turn to the U.S. government in the form of taxes, the U.S. was losing money.

Widespread copying of mp3 music files has lead to ongoing discussions within the digital media industries for the need for digital rights/restriction management (DRM). This means that as new sharing technologies become available through which to sell digital media, new anti-copying technologies must be put into place by the industries that stand to profit from the sale of the original digital works.

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Copyright and the Future Economy

The new revisions of the U.S. Copyright Act will continue to address the new copying technologies as long as it is in the best interest of sustaining U.S. profits. The U.S. digital media industries will continue to police itself with new copy-protection, TPM, and DRM technologies as long as it is profitable for them to do so. U.S. and International Copyright law will continue to be about the money. Authors of original works will continue to experience financial copyright protection as a by-product of the true reason for copyright protection; local, national and international commerce.

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e-Copyrights: Protecting Us from Ourselves

Desiring recognition for accomplishments is a basic human trait. It is a trait that could be negatively related to vanity or pride, but by connecting accomplishments to a particular person or group, similar mindsets are realized and parallel information sources are identified. Immediately knowing who to talk to or where to find specific information, saves time and allows effort to be directed efficiently. The combination of these aspects contributes to eventual advancements for collective human interests.

In the forefront of everyday life worldwide, is the idea of trade – the exchange of something for something else. The idea of trade can also be related to the desire for recognition of accomplishments. However, what is the accomplishment that a person wants to recognize? On the basest level, the accomplishment is the idea that one or more persons require or desire something controlled by another person. By requiring a trade, the person in control of that thing is publicly recognizing and transmitting that he has something that you need.

Humans have unfortunately coupled their need for recognition with their need for greater individual importance by creating the tangible concept of money. Money probably began as a relatively innocent concept as a way to facilitate equal trade that eventually became misinterpreted and abused. Because money is identified worldwide, people are now able to receive increased recognition for accomplishments that have brought them money, or more likely, the idea of greater individual importance that now precedes money.

Copyright is basically the forced recognition of accomplishment.

These laws were created out of necessity (or vanity or pride, depending on your viewpoint). Forced or required recognition of accomplishment isn't entirely negative. People SHOULD be recognized for their accomplishments. Controlling Copyrights, however, attaches the need for recognition with today's omnipresent idea that money dictates greater individual importance, because the sole function of a Copyright is to insure payment of money for use of that idea.

Because people have not yet evolved past the requirement of money for greater individual importance, as well as the tendency to utilize the fastest ways of acquiring any type of advancement, the existence of Copyright Laws is necessary. Naturally, this situation produces a distinct and illogical irony, much like many other aspects of today's society.

Moreover, time and productivity is wasted when plagiarism or violation of Copyright Laws occur because by simply copying another person's accomplishment, only self-gratification or unimportant victories is achieved and nothing is contributed to society. Further, the time and productive effort of those responsible for upholding Laws or moral standards are wasted on trivial and avoidable issues. Both of these situations only impede positive human advancements.

Perhaps even more infuriating, and a true credit to the debasement of humanity are plaintiffs (those initiating the lawsuit) alleging that commercial network service providers are responsible for subscriber infringement rather than the actual subscribers committing the act. Unless the service provider is aware of the violation and does nothing to report or prevent the action, this practice is clearly motivated by self-aggrandizement.

Fortunately, laws are amended over time to help prevent premature reactions or catering to special interests. Positive steps to control the abuse of loopholes or frivolous lawsuits regarding Internet Service Providers (ISP's) began when the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law on October 28, 1998. Specifically, the DMCA exempts a service provider from any legal liability for copyright infringement conducted by customers using its network as long as the service provider does not have actual knowledge that the material or an activity using the material on the system or network is infringing' and, 'upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness, acts expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material. (Sern, 1999)

Until our world evolves beyond requiring the need for money, Copyrights will continue to exist and Copyright protection will continue to be an issue. And until humanity evolves beyond its trivial need for individual importance, embraces and teaches a respectful, collective, and nurturing society, Laws that govern and protect us from our natural impulses will continue to exist.

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6.3 References

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6.4 Copyright: An Overview

Nicole L. Forst

Copyright – What is it?

If you go to the Copyright office's website, you might be a little overwhelmed at everything there is, but this article will ease those fears and confusions of copyright.

So to start things off what is copyright?: Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works (Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright, 2006). Now you may be saying once something is created isn't it protected? Yes it is protected once it is created, but if you find that copyright infringement has occurred, having your work registered is the only way you can file a lawsuit against the infringer.

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Poor Mans Copyright

While it's not actually a form of Copyright it is the practice of sending your work to yourself. It does not protect you from anything and you do not receive a registration certificate.

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Foreign Copyright

If you read Circular 38a (2003), this explains which countries outside the USA accept a U.S. Copyright. Now this PDF has not been updated since 2003, and on the Copyright website there might be updates that are not on the PDF.

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Copyright Protection

What exactly is protected by the law of copyright? The answer is: Copyright protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation; although it may protect the way these things are expressed (Frequently Asked Questions about Copyright, 2006) Also you cannot copyright names of bands, recipes or logos or slogans. Logos and Slogans can be protected under the trademark and patent office (United States Patent and Trademark Office).

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Copyright Registration

All foreigners may register works in the US if they are unpublished. If they want something published they either have to be in the USA or in anyone of the countries that the US has a Copyright Treaty with. Also people who are under the age of 18 are allowed to register items for copyright, but state laws might have some say in the business aspect of publishing or making a profit. So if you are under 18 and want to publish something consult an attorney for all your legal rights.

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Copyright Forms

When first going to the Copyright Office's website to find a form you may be a little intimidated as to all the abbreviations that are listed, and what form you should choose.

The U.S. Copyright Office Forms web site (2006) has all the forms for download and downloading instructions. Each form has to be filled out and printed a certain way to be accepted so plan accordingly.

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Questions

  1. If I were a composer and just completed a piece of music that is not recorded yet, which form would I use?
    • A. Literary Work
    • B. Serial
    • C. Sound Recording
    • D. Performing Art
  2. What is a Poor Mans Copyright?
  3. Short Answer: What is the definition of Copyright?

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Answers

  1. D, performing art's form is what you need.
  2. The practice of sending your work to yourself
  3. Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works

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6.4 References

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Creative Commons License 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License .

Contact Information

  • Pamela Berman
  • 2221 McCormick Center
  • Bloomsburg PA 17815-1301
  • USA
  • pberman@bloomu.edu

Last updated October 13, 2006

Graphics by David Cerreta