Citizendia

Not to be confused with copywriting. Copywriting is the use of words to promote a Person, Business, Opinion, or Idea.
For Wikipedia policy about copyright issues, see Wikipedia:Copyrights
Copyright symbol
Copyright symbol
Intellectual property law
Primary rights
Sui generis rights
Other topics
edit box

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time. copyright symbol, designated by © (a circled "C" is the Symbol used to provide notice of Copyright in works other than sound recordings (which Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual Industrial design rights are Intellectual property rights that protect the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian A utility model is an Intellectual property right to protect Inventions This right is available in a number of national Legislations such as Argentina A geographical indication (GI is a name or sign used on certain products which corresponds to a specific geographical location or origin (eg A trade secret is a Formula, practice, Process, Design, instrument, Pattern, or compilation of Information which Related rights is a term in Copyright law used in opposition to the term " Authors' rights " A trade name, also known as a trading name or a business name, is the name which a Business trades under for commercial purposes although its registered In Computer networking, a domain name is a name given to a collection of network devices that belong to a domain which is an administrative space managed according Sui generis (English pronunciation ( IPA) /ˌsuːiˈdʒɛnərɪs/ roughly "SOO-ee JEN-a-ris" Latin pronunciation /ˌsuːiˈgeneris/ is a Neo-Latin In European Union law, a database right is a legal right introduced in 1996. A mask work is a two or three-dimensional layout or topography of an Integrated circuit (IC or "chip" i Plant breeders' rights (PBR also known as plant variety rights (PVR are Intellectual property rights granted to the breeder of a new variety In European Union member countries a supplementary protection certificate (SPC is a Sui generis, Patent -like Intellectual property Indigenous intellectual property is an umbrella legal term used in national and international forums to identify Indigenous peoples ' special rights to claim (from within Critics of the term " Intellectual property " argue that the increased use of this terminology coincided with a more general shift away from thinking about things like copyright In Anglo-Saxon law, an exclusive right is a de facto non-tangible Prerogative existing in law (that is the power or in a wider sense Right Generally, it is "the right to copy", but also gives the copyright holder the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the work, who may financially benefit from it, and other, related rights. It is an intellectual property form (like the patent, the trademark, and the trade secret) applicable to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete. Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual A trade secret is a Formula, practice, Process, Design, instrument, Pattern, or compilation of Information which

Copyright initially was conceived as a way for government to restrict printing; the contemporary intent of copyright is to promote the creation of new works by giving authors control of and profit from them. Copy rights have been internationally standardised, lasting between fifty to a hundred years from the creator's death, or a finite period for anonymous or corporate creations; some jurisdictions have required formalities to establishing copyright, most recognize copyright in any completed work, without formal registration. Generally, copyright is enforced as a civil matter, though some jurisdictions do apply criminal sanctions. The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential

Most jurisdictions recognize copyright limitations, allowing "fair" exceptions to the creator's exclusivity of copyright, and giving users certain rights. The development of digital media and computer network technologies have prompted reinterpretation of these exceptions, introduced new difficulties in enforcing copyright, and inspired additional challenges to copyright law's philosophic basis. Simultaneously, businesses with great economic dependence upon copyright have advocated the extension and expansion of their copy rights, and sought additional legal and technological enforcement.

Contents

History

Main article: History of copyright law

Copyright was invented after the advent of the printing press and with wider public literacy. Copyright was invented after the advent of the Printing press and subsequent widening of public literacy A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image As a legal concept, its origins in Britain were from a reaction to printers' monopolies at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Charles II of England was concerned by the unregulated copying of books and passed the Licensing Act of 1662 by Act of Parliament [1], which established a register of licensed books and required a copy to be deposited with the Stationers Company, essentially continuing the licensing of material that had long been in effect. Charles II (Charles Stuart 29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685 was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

The British Statute of Anne (1709) further alluded to individual rights or the artist, beginning: "Whereas Printers, Booksellers, and other Persons, have of late frequently taken the Liberty of Printing. The Statute of Anne ( Short title Copyright Act 1709 8 Anne c . . Books, and other Writings, without the Consent of the Authors. . . to their very great Detriment, and too often to the Ruin of them and their Families:. . . "[2] A right to benefit financially from the work is articulated, and court rulings and legislation have recognized a right to control the work, such as ensuring that the integrity of it is preserved. An irrevocable right to be recognized as the work's creator appears in some countries' copyright laws.

The Statute of Anne was the first real copyright act, and gave the publishers rights for a fixed period, after which the copyright expired. The Statute of Anne ( Short title Copyright Act 1709 8 Anne c Copyright has grown from a legal concept regulating copying rights in the publishing of books and maps to one with a significant effect on nearly every modern industry, covering such items as sound recordings, films, photographs, software, and architectural works.

The Copyright Clause of the United States Constitution (1787) authorized copyright legislation: "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. Article I Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, known as the Copyright Clause, the Copyright and Patent Clause (or Patent The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. " That is, by guaranteeing them a period of time in which they alone could profit from their works, they would be enabled and encouraged to invest the time required to create them, and this would be good for society as a whole. A right to profit from the work has been the philosophical underpinning for much legislation extending the duration of copyright, to the life of the creator and beyond, to his heirs.

The 1886 Berne Convention first established recognition of copyrights among sovereign nations, rather than merely bilaterally. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing Copyright Sovereignty is the exclusive Right to control a Government, a country, a people or oneself Under the Berne Convention, copyrights for creative works do not have to be asserted or declared, as they are automatically in force at creation: an author need not "register" or "apply for" a copyright in countries adhering to the Berne Convention. A creative work is a tangible manifestation of creative effort such as Literature, Paintings, Software, and this article As soon as a work is "fixed", that is, written or recorded on some physical medium, its author is automatically entitled to all copyrights in the work, and to any derivative works unless and until the author explicitly disclaims them, or until the copyright expires. The Berne Convention also resulted in foreign authors being treated equivalently to domestic authors, in any country signed onto the Convention. The UK signed the Berne Convention in 1887 but did not implement large parts of it until 100 years later with the passage of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. The USA did not sign the Berne Convention until 1989.

The United States and most Latin American countries instead entered into the Buenos Aires Convention in 1910, which required a copyright notice (such as "all rights reserved") on the work, and permitted signatory nations to limit the duration of copyrights to shorter and renewable terms. The Buenos Aires Convention is a Copyright Treaty signed at Buenos Aires on 1910-04-11 which provides for the mutual recognition of copyrights The Universal Copyright Convention was drafted in 1952 as another less demanding alternative to the Berne Convention, and ratified by nations such as the Soviet Union and developing nations. The Universal Copyright Convention (or UCC) adopted at Geneva in 1952, is one of the two principal international conventions protecting Copyright The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991

The regulations of the Berne Convention are incorporated into the World Trade Organization's TRIPS agreement (1995), thus giving the Berne Convention effectively near-global application. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing Copyright TRIPS redirects here For the new microprocessor design see TRIPS architecture. The 2002 WIPO Copyright Treaty enacted greater restrictions on the use of technology to copy works in the nations that ratified it. The World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty, abbreviated as the WIPO Copyright Treaty, was an international Treaty on Copyright law adopted

Justification

Main article: Philosophy of copyright

Some take the approach of looking for coherent justifications of established copyright systems, while others start with general ethical theories, such as utilitarianism and try to analyse policy through that lens. The philosophy of copyright might be said to include several philosophical issues which are fundamentally linked to Copyright Policy, and other jurisprudential Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall Utility, that is its contribution to happiness Another approach denies the meaningfulness of any ethical justification for existing copyright law, viewing it simply as a result (and perhaps an undesirable result) of political processes.

Another widely debated issue is the relationship between copyrights and other forms of "intellectual property", and material property. Copyright is a legal concept enacted by Governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship Exclusive rights to control its distribution usually for Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names Most scholars of copyright agree that it can be called a kind of property, because it involves the exclusion of others from something. Property is any physical or virtual entity that is owned by an individual In Anglo-Saxon law, an exclusive right is a de facto non-tangible Prerogative existing in law (that is the power or in a wider sense Right But there is disagreement about the extent to which that fact should allow the transportation of other beliefs and intuitions about material possessions.

There are many other philosophical questions which arise in the jurisprudence of copyright. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language They include such problems as determining when one work is "derived" from another, or deciding when information has been placed in a "tangible" or "material" form.

Some critics claim copyright law protects corporate interests while criminalizing legitimate use, while proponents argue the law is fair and just.

Scope

Copyright may apply to a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms, or "works". Specifics vary by jurisdiction, but these can include poems, theses, plays, other literary works, movies, dances, musical compositions, audio recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, software, radio and television broadcasts, and industrial designs. In Law, jurisdiction (from the Latin ius iuris meaning "law" and dicere meaning "to speak" is the practical Authority A dissertation (also called thesis or disquisition) is a document that presents the author's Research and findings and is submitted in support of candidature Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. A Book is a set or collection of written printed illustrated or blank sheets made of Paper, Parchment, or other material usually fastened together See also, Choreography (literally "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" (circular dance see chorea) and "γραφή" Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Painting (pān'tīng in Art, is the practice of applying Color to a Surface (support base such as e Drawing is a Visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic For the band see Broadcast (band Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or Video signals which transmit Industrial design is an Applied art whereby the Aesthetics and Usability of mass-produced products may be improved for marketability and Graphic designs and industrial designs may have separate or overlapping laws applied to them in some jurisdictions. Design is used both as a Noun and a Verb. The term is often tied to the various Applied arts and Engineering (See design disciplines

Copyright does not cover ideas and information themselves, only the form or manner in which they are expressed. For example, the copyright to a Mickey Mouse cartoon restricts others from making copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works based on Disney's particular anthropomorphic mouse, but doesn't prohibit the creation of other works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they're different enough to not be judged copies of Disney's. Mickey Mouse is a comic animal Cartoon character who has become an icon for The Walt Disney Company. In Copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major basic copyrighted aspects of an original previously created first work Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely Human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings natural and supernatural phenomena material states and objects In many jurisdictions, copyright law makes exceptions to these restrictions when the work is copied for the purpose of commentary or other related uses (See Fair Use, Fair Dealing). Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders such as use for Fair dealing is a Doctrine of Limitations and exceptions to copyright which is found in many of the Common law jurisdictions of the Commonwealth of Meanwhile, other laws may impose additional restrictions that copyright does not — such as trademarks and patents. A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an

Copyright laws are standardized somewhat through international conventions such as the Berne Convention and Universal Copyright Convention. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing Copyright The Universal Copyright Convention (or UCC) adopted at Geneva in 1952, is one of the two principal international conventions protecting Copyright These multilateral treaties have been ratified by nearly all countries, and international organizations such as the European Union or World Trade Organization require their member states to comply with them. International Organization is a peer-reviewed Academic journal that covers the entire field of International affairs. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in

Obtaining and enforcing copyright

Typically, a work must meet minimal standards of originality in order to qualify for copyright, and the copyright expires after a set period of time (some jurisdictions may allow this to be extended). Different countries impose different tests, although generally the requirements are low; in the United Kingdom there has to be some 'skill, labour and judgment' that has gone into it. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located [3] In Australia and the United Kingdom it has been held that a single word is insufficient to comprise a copyright work. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. However, single words or a short string of words can sometimes be registered as a trademark instead. A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual

Copyright law recognises the right of an author based on whether the work actually is an original creation, rather than based on whether it is unique; two authors may own copyright on two substantially identical works, if it is determined that the duplication was coincidental, and neither was copied from the other.

In all countries where the Berne Convention standards apply, copyright is automatic, and need not be obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape, or a computer file), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights. However, while registration isn't needed to exercise copyright, in jurisdictions where the laws provide for registration, it serves as prima facie evidence of a valid copyright and enables the copyright holder to seek statutory damages and attorney's fees. Prima facie is a Latin expression meaning "on its first appearance" or "by first instance" Statutory damages for Copyright infringement are available under some countries' Copyright laws The charges allow copyright holders who succeed with claims (In the USA, registering after an infringement only enables one to receive actual damages and lost profits. )

The original holder of the copyright may be the employer of the author rather than the author himself, if the work is a "work for hire". A work made for hire (sometimes abbreviated as work for hire and WFH) is an exception to the general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally-recognized For example, in English law the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 provides that if a copyrighted work is made by an employee in the course of that employment, the copyright is automatically owned by the employer which would be a "Work for Hire. English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of Common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countriesand the "

Copyrights are generally enforced by the holder in a civil law court, but there are also criminal infringement statutes in some jurisdictions. Civil law, as opposed to Criminal law, refers to that branch of Law dealing with disputes between Individuals and/or Organizations, in which While central registries are kept in some countries which aid in proving claims of ownership, registering does not necessarily prove ownership, nor does the fact of copying (even without permission) necessarily prove that copyright was infringed. The purpose of copyright registration is to place on record a verifiable account of the date and content of the work in question so that in the event of a legal claim or case of The Law of evidence governs the use of Testimony (eg oral or written statements such as an Affidavit) and exhibits (e Criminal sanctions are generally aimed at serious counterfeiting activity, but are now becoming more commonplace as copyright collectives such as the RIAA are increasingly targeting the file sharing home Internet user. See Shared resource for the conventional meaning of file sharing File sharing refers to the providing and receiving of digital files over a Thus far, however, most such cases against file sharers have been settled out of court. (See: File sharing and the law)

Copyright notices in the U. See also File sharing The legal issues in File sharing involve violation of Copyright laws as digital copies of copy-written materials are transferred between S.

Prior to 1989, use of a copyright notice — consisting of the copyright symbol (©, the letter C inside a circle), the abbreviation "Copr. copyright symbol, designated by © (a circled "C" is the Symbol used to provide notice of Copyright in works other than sound recordings (which ", or the word "Copyright", followed by the year of the first publication of the work and the name of the copyright holder — was part of United States statutory requirements. [4][5] Several years may be noted if the work has gone through substantial revisions. The proper copyright notice for sound recordings of musical or other audio works is a sound recording copyright symbol (℗, the letter P inside a circle), which indicates a sound recording copyright. The ℗ symbol a circled P is the Copyright symbol used to provide notice of Copyright in a sound recording (phonogram Similarly, the phrase All rights reserved was once required to assert copyright. "All rights reserved" is a phrase that originated in Copyright law as part of copyright notices

In 1989, the U. S. enacted the Berne Convention Implementation Act, amending the 1976 Copyright Act to conform to most of the provisions of the Berne Convention. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing Copyright As a result, the use of copyright notices has become optional to claim copyright, because the Berne Convention makes copyright automatic. [6] However, the lack of notice of copyright using these marks may have consequences in terms of reduced damages in an infringement lawsuit — using notices of this form may reduce the likelihood of a defense of "innocent infringement" being successful. [7]

"Poor man's copyright"

A widely circulated strategy to avoid the cost of copyright registration is referred to as the "poor man's copyright. Poor man's copyright refers to the method of using registered dating by the Postal service, a Notary public or other highly trusted source to date Intellectual " It proposes that the creator send the work to himself in a sealed envelope by registered mail, using the postmark to establish the date. A postmark is a Postal marking made on a letter, Package, Postcard or the like indicating This technique has not been recognized in any published opinions of the United States courts. The United States Copyright Office makes clear that the technique is no substitute for actual registration. [8] The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office discusses the technique but does not recommend its use. [9]

Exclusive rights

Several exclusive rights typically attach to the holder of a copyright:

The phrase "exclusive right" means that only the copyright holder is free to exercise those rights, and others are prohibited from using the work without his permission. In Copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major basic copyrighted aspects of an original previously created first work Copyright is sometimes called a "negative right", as it serves to prohibit certain people (e. g. , readers, viewers, or listeners, and primarily publishers and would be publishers) from doing something they would otherwise be able to do, rather than permitting people (e. g. , authors) to do something they would otherwise be unable to do. In this way it is similar to the unregistered design right in English law and European law. English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of Common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countriesand the The Law of the European Union is the unique legal system which operates alongside the laws of Member States of the European Union (EU The rights of the copyright holder also permit him/her to not use or exploit their copyright, for some or all of the term.

There is, however, a critique which rejects this assertion as being based on a philosophical interpretation of copyright law that is not universally shared. The philosophy of copyright might be said to include several philosophical issues which are fundamentally linked to Copyright Policy, and other jurisprudential There is also debate on whether copyright should be considered a property right or a moral right. Property is any physical or virtual entity that is owned by an individual Moral rights are Rights of creators of Copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and first recognized in France and Many argue that copyright does not exist merely to restrict third parties from publishing ideas and information, and that defining copyright purely as a negative right is incompatible with the public policy objective of encouraging authors to create new works and enrich the public domain.

The right to adapt a work means to transform the way in which the work is expressed. Examples include developing a stage play or film script from a novel, translating a short story, and making a new arrangement of a musical work.

Limits and exceptions to copyright

Main article: Limitations and exceptions to copyright

Idea-expression dichotomy and the merger doctrine

Main article: Idea-expression divide

Immanuel Kant in his 1785 essay Von der Unrechtmäßigkeit des Büchernachdrucks distinguishes the physical from the ideational, the thought involved from the book. The expression " limitations and exceptions to copyright " refers to situations in which the Exclusive rights granted to authors or their assignees under Copyright The idea-expression divide or idea-expression dichotomy is a concept which explains the appropriate function of Copyright laws which are generally designed to Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg This distinction is of critical importance to the near constant wrangling between publishers, other intermediaries, and the original, creative authors.

The first-sale doctrine and exhaustion of rights

Main articles: First-sale doctrine and Exhaustion of rights

Copyright law does not restrict the owner of a copy from reselling legitimately obtained copies of copyrighted works, provided that those copies were originally produced by or with the permission of the copyright holder. The first-sale doctrine is a limitation on Copyright that was recognized by the U Exhaustion of rights, or the doctrine of exhaustion, is a concept in Intellectual It is therefore legal, for example, to resell a copyrighted book or CD. A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio In the United States this is known as the first-sale doctrine, and was established by the courts to clarify the legality of reselling books in second-hand bookstores. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The first-sale doctrine is a limitation on Copyright that was recognized by the U A court is a forum used by a power base to adjudicate disputes and dispense civil, labour administrative and criminal Justice under its Some countries may have parallel importation restrictions that allow the copyright holder to control the aftermarket. A parallel import is a non- Counterfeit product imported from another country without the permission of the Intellectual property owner This may mean for example that a copy of a book that does not infringe copyright in the country where it was printed does infringe copyright in a country into which it is imported for retailing. The first-sale doctrine is known as exhaustion of rights in other countries and is a principle which also applies, though somewhat differently, to patent and trademark rights. Exhaustion of rights, or the doctrine of exhaustion, is a concept in Intellectual A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual It is important to note that the first-sale doctrine permits the transfer of the particular legitimate copy involved. It does not permit making or distributing additional copies.

In addition, copyright, in most cases, does not prohibit one from acts such as modifying, defacing, or destroying his or her own legitimately obtained copy of a copyrighted work, so long as duplication is not involved. However, in countries that implement moral rights, a copyright holder can in some cases successfully prevent the mutilation or destruction of a work that is publicly visible. Moral rights are Rights of creators of Copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and first recognized in France and

Fair use and fair dealing

Main articles: Fair use and Fair dealing

Copyright does not prohibit all copying or replication. Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders such as use for Fair dealing is a Doctrine of Limitations and exceptions to copyright which is found in many of the Common law jurisdictions of the Commonwealth of In the United States, the fair use doctrine, codified by the Copyright Act of 1976 as 17 U. Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders such as use for History and purpose Before the 1976 Act the last major revision to statutory copyright law in the United States occurred in 1909 S. C. Section 107, permits some copying and distribution without permission of the copyright holder or payment to same. The statute does not clearly define fair use, but instead gives four non-exclusive factors to consider in a fair use analysis. Those factors are:

  1. the purpose and character of your use
  2. the nature of the copyrighted work
  3. what amount and proportion of the whole work was taken, (usually less than 400 words [1]) and
  4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

In the United Kingdom and many other Commonwealth countries, a similar notion of fair dealing was established by the courts or through legislation. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A court is a forum used by a power base to adjudicate disputes and dispense civil, labour administrative and criminal Justice under its Legislation (or " Statutory law " is law which has been promulgated (or " Enacted quot by a Legislature or other Governing The concept is sometimes not well defined; however in Canada, private copying for personal use has been expressly permitted by statute since 1999. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page In Australia, the fair dealing exceptions under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) are a limited set of circumstances under which copyrighted material can be legally copied or adapted without the copyright holder's consent. Fair dealing is a Doctrine of Limitations and exceptions to copyright which is found in many of the Common law jurisdictions of the Commonwealth of Fair dealing uses are research and study; review and critique; news reportage and the giving of professional advice (ie legal advice). In the Common law, legal advice is the giving of a formal opinion regarding the substance or procedure of the law by an officer of the court (such as Solicitor or Under current Australian law it is still a breach of copyright to copy, reproduce or adapt copyright material for personal or private use without permission from the copyright owner. The law of Australia consists of the Australian Common law (which is based on the English common law) federal laws enacted by the Parliament Other technical exemptions from infringement may also apply, such as the temporary reproduction of a work in machine readable form for a computer.

In the United States the AHRA (Audio Home Recording Act Codified in Section 10, 1992) prohibits action against consumers making noncommercial recordings of music, in return for royalties on both media and devices plus mandatory copy-control mechanisms on recorders.

Section 1008. Prohibition on certain infringement actions
No action may be brought under this title alleging infringement of copyright based on the manufacture, importation, or distribution of a digital audio recording device, a digital audio recording medium, an analog recording device, or an analog recording medium, or based on the noncommercial use by a consumer of such a device or medium for making digital musical recordings or analog musical recordings.

Later acts amended US Copyright law so that for certain purposes making 10 copies or more is construed to be commercial, but there is no general rule permitting such copying. Indeed making one complete copy of a work, or in many cases using a portion of it, for commercial purposes will not be considered fair use. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits the manufacture, importation, or distribution of devices whose intended use, or only significant commercial use, is to bypass an access or copy control put in place by a copyright owner. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA is a United States Copyright Law which implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property An appellate court has held that fair use is not a defense to engaging in such distribution.

Transfer and licensing

A copyright, or aspects of it, may be assigned or transferred from one party to another. For example, a musician who records an album will often sign an agreement with a record company in which the musician agrees to transfer all copyright in the recordings in exchange for royalties and other considerations. The creator (and original copyright holder) benefits, or expects to, from production and marketing capabilities far beyond those of the author. In the digital age of music, music may be copied and distributed at minimal cost through the Internet, however the record industry attempts to provide promotion and marketing for the artist and his or her work so it can reach a much larger audience. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks The record industry is the part of the Music industry that sells Sound recordings of Music. A copyright holder need not transfer all rights completely, though many publishers will insist. Some of the rights may be transferred, or else the copyright holder may grant another party a non-exclusive license to copy and/or distribute the work in a particular region or for a specified period of time. A transfer or licence may have to meet particular formal requirements in order to be effective; see section 239 of the Australia Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Under Australian law, it is not enough to pay for a work to be created in order to also own the copyright. The copyright itself must be expressly transferred in writing.

Under the U. S. Copyright Act, a transfer of ownership in copyright must be memorialized in a writing signed by the transferor. For that purpose, ownership in copyright includes exclusive licenses of rights. Thus exclusive licenses, to be effective, must be granted in a written instrument signed by the grantor. No special form of transfer or grant is required. A simple document that identifies the work involved and the rights being granted is sufficient. Non-exclusive grants (often called non-exclusive licenses) need not be in writing under U.S. law. The law of the United States was originally largely derived from the Common law system of English law, which was in force at the time of the Revolutionary They can be oral or even implied by the behavior of the parties. Transfers of copyright ownership, including exclusive licenses, may and should be recorded in the U. S. Copyright Office. (Information on recording transfers is available on the Office's web site. ) While recording is not required to make the grant effective, it offers important benefits, much like those obtained by recording a deed in a real estate transaction. Real estate is a legal term (in some jurisdictions notably in the USA, United Kingdom

Copyright may also be licensed. The verb license or grant license means to give permission The noun license is the document demonstrating that permission Some jurisdictions may provide that certain classes of copyrighted works be made available under a prescribed statutory license (e. See Compulsory license. A statutory license is an exception to copyright provided by Law to use a copyrighted work without the g. musical works in the United States used for radio broadcast or performance). This is also called a compulsory license, because under this scheme, anyone who wishes to copy a covered work does not need the permission of the copyright holder, but instead merely files the proper notice and pays a set fee established by statute (or by an agency decision under statutory guidance) for every copy made. In a compulsory license a government forces the holder of a Patent, Copyright, or other Exclusive right to grant use to the state or others Failure to follow the proper procedures would place the copier at risk of an infringement suit. Because of the difficulty of following every individual work, copyright collectives or collecting societies and performing rights organizations (such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC have been formed to collect royalties for hundreds (thousands and more) works at once. A copyright collective (also known as a copyright collecting agency or copyright collecting society) is a body created by private agreements or by Copyright law Performance rights organizations (PROs provide intermediary functions particularly royalty collection between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works publicly The American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers ( ASCAP) is a non-profit Performance rights organization that protects its Broadcast Music Incorporated ( BMI) is a US Performing rights organization. SESAC, originally the Society of European Stage Authors & Composers, is the smallest of the three Performance rights organizations in the United States Though this market solution bypasses the statutory license, the availability of the statutory fee still helps dictate the price per work collective rights organizations charge, driving it down to what avoidance of procedural hassle would justify.

Similar legal rights

Copyright law covers the creative or artistic expression of an idea. Patent law covers inventions. A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an An invention is a new form composition of matter device or Process. Trademark law covers distinctive signs which are used in relation to products or services as indicators of origin, as does (in a similar fashion), Trade dress. A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual In Semiotics, a sign is "something that stands for something else to someone in some capacity" In Marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a Market that might satisfy a want or need A service is the non-material equivalent of a good. A service provision is an economic activity that does not result in Ownership, and this is what differentiates Trade dress refers to characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging (or even the facade of a building such as a restaurant that may be registered and protected Registered designs law covers the look or appearance of a manufactured or functional article. Trade secret law covers secret or sensitive knowledge or information. A trade secret is a Formula, practice, Process, Design, instrument, Pattern, or compilation of Information which

Although copyright and trademark laws are theoretically distinct, more than one type of them may cover the same item or subject matter. For example, in the case of the Mickey Mouse cartoon, the image and name of Mickey Mouse would be the subject of trademark legislation, while the cartoon itself would be subject to copyright. Titles and character names from books or movies may also be trademarked while the works from which they are drawn may qualify for copyright.

Another point of distinction is that a copyright (and a patent) is generally subject to a statutorily-determined term, whereas a trademark registration may remain in force indefinitely if the trademark is periodically used and renewal fees continue to be duly paid to the relevant jurisdiction's trade marks office or registry. Once the term of a copyright has expired, the formerly copyrighted work enters the public domain and may be freely used or exploited by anyone. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone Courts in the United States and the United Kingdom have rejected the doctrine of a common law copyright. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Common law copyright is the legal doctrine which contends that Copyright is a natural right and creators are therefore entitled to the same protections anyone would be in regard Public domain works should not be confused with works that are publicly available. Works posted in the internet for example, are publicly available, but are not generally in the public domain. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks Copying such works may therefore violate the author's copyright.

Useful articles

If a pictorial, graphic or sculptural work is a useful article, it is copyrighted only if its aesthetic features are separable from its utilitarian features. A useful article is an article having an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not merely to portray the appearance of the article or to convey information. They must be separable from the functional aspect to be copyrighted. [2]

There are two primary approaches to the separability issue: physical separability and conceptual separability. Physical separability is the ability to take the aesthetic thing away from the functional thing. Conceptual separability can be found in several different ways. It may be present if the useful article is also shown to be appreciated for its aesthetic appeal or by the design approach, which is the idea that separability is only available if the designer is able to make the aesthetic choices that are unaffected by the functional considerations. A question may also be asked of whether an individual would think of the aesthetic aspects of the work being separate from the functional aspects.

There are several different tests available for conceptual separability. The first, the Primary Use test, asks how is the thing primarily used: art or function? The second, the Marketable as Art test, asks can the article be sold as art, whether functional or not. This test does not have much backing, as almost anything can be sold as art. The third test, Temporal Displacement, asks could an individual conceptualize the article as art without conceptualizing functionality at the same time. Finally, the Denicola test says that copyrightability should ultimately depend on the extent to which the work reflects the artistic expression inhibited by functional consideration. If something came to have a pleasing shape because there were functional considerations, the artistic aspect was constrained by those concerns.

Duration

Copyright subsists for a variety of lengths in different jurisdictions. The length of the term can depend on several factors, including the type of work (e. g. musical composition, novel), whether the work has been published or not, and whether the work was created by an individual or a corporation. In most of the world, the default length of copyright is the life of the author plus either 50 or 70 years. In the United States, the term for most existing works is a fixed number of years after the date of creation or publication. Under most countries' laws, copyrights expire at the end of the calendar year in question.

The length and requirements for copyright duration are subject to change by legislation, and since the early 20th century there have been a number of adjustments made in various countries, which can make determining the duration of a given copyright somewhat difficult. For example, the United States used to require copyrights to be renewed after 28 years to stay in force, and formerly required a copyright notice upon first publication to gain coverage. In Italy and France, there were post-wartime extensions that could increase the term by approximately 6 years in Italy and up to about 14 in France. Many countries have extended the length of their copyright terms (sometimes retroactively). International treaties establish minimum terms for copyrights, but individual countries may enforce longer terms than those.

In the United States, all books and other works published before 1923 have expired copyrights and are in the public domain. In addition, works published before 1964 that did not have their copyrights renewed 28 years after first publication year also are in the public domain, except that books originally published outside the US by non-Americans are exempt from this requirement, if they are still under copyright in their home country (see How Can I Tell Whether a Copyright Was Renewed for more details).

But if the intended exploitation of the work includes publication (or distribution of derivative work, such as a film based on a book protected by copyright) outside the U. S. , the terms of copyright around the world must be considered. If the author has been dead more than 70 years, the work is in the public domain in most, but not all, countries. Some works are covered by copyright in Spain for 80 years after the author's death.

In 1998 the length of a copyright in the United States was increased by 20 years under the The Copyright Term Extension Act. The Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA of 1998 &ndash alternatively known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Sonny Bono Act, or Pejoratively This legislation was strongly promoted by corporations which had valuable copyrights which otherwise would have expired, and has been the subject of substantial criticism on this point.

As a curiosity, the famous work Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up has a complex – and disputed – story of copyright expiry. Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and Peter and Wendy are the stage play and novel (respectively which tell the well-known story of

Typefaces

In the United States, the Copyright Office maintains that typeface designs are not covered by copyright, and it will not accept applications for their registration. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United States Copyright Office, a part of the Library of Congress, is the official U In Typography, a typeface is a set of one or more Fonts designed with stylistic unity each comprising a coordinated set of Glyphs A typeface usually comprises See 37. C.F.R. § 202.1(e). In Tufenkian Import/Export Ventures, Inc. v. Einstein Moomjy, Inc. , 338 F. 3d 127, 132 (2nd Cir. 2003), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recognized this rule when it held, “the public domain includes, for example, both the generic shape of the letter 'L' and all of the elaborately more specific 'L's' from the hundreds of years of font designs that have fallen into the public domain. ” However, if a design is novel and "non-obvious," it may be covered by design patent. In the United States, a design patent is a Patent granted on the ornamental design of a functional item See, for example, U.S. Des. Patent No. 289,773 , May 12, 1987), Charles A. Bigelow and Kris A. Holmes, inventors. Events 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) Charles Bigelow (b 1945 Detroit Michigan) is a type historian professor and designer Kris Holmes (b 1950, Reedley California) is a type designer She is with Charles Bigelow the co-creator of Lucida font family Germany (in 1981) passed a special extension (Schriftzeichengesetz) to the design patent law (Geschmacksmustergesetz) for protecting them. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. This permits typefaces being registered as designs in Germany, too. So far, the United States courts have not published any opinions discussing whether a computer program creating a particular font might be intellectual property protected by the copyright laws.

The United Kingdom (in 1989) has passed a law making typeface designs copyrightable. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The British law also applies to designs produced before 1989. The United Kingdom has three Legal systems. English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law, which applies in

Accessible Copies

It is legal in several countries including the United Kingdom and the United States to produce alternative versions (for example, in large print or braille) of a copyrighted work to provide improved access to a work for blind and visually impaired persons without permission from the copyright holder. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the [10][11]

References

  1. ^ Copyright in Historical Perspective, p. 136-137, Patterson, 1968, Vanderbilt Univ. Press
  2. ^ Statute of Anne
  3. ^ Express Newspaper Plc v News (UK) Plc, F. S. R. 36 (1991)
  4. ^ Copyright Act of 1976, Pub.L. 94-553, 90 Stat. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between Individuals ( Citizens companies) and the State. 2541, § 401(a) (October 19, 1976)
  5. ^ The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 (BCIA), Pub.L. 100-568, 102 Stat. Events 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. 2853, 2857. One of the changes introduced by the BCIA was to section 401, which governs copyright notices on published copies, specifying that notices "may be placed on" such copies; prior to the BCIA, the statute read that notices "shall be placed on all" such copies. An analogous change was made in section 402, dealing with copyright notices on phonorecords.
  6. ^ U.S. Copyright Office - Information Circular
  7. ^ 17 U.S.C. § 401(d)
  8. ^ Copyright in General: I’ve heard about a "poor man’s copyright." What is it?, U. Title 17 of the United States Code is the title of the United States Code that outlines United States copyright law. S Copyright Office
  9. ^ Copyright Registers', United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office
  10. ^ Copyright Law of the USA, Chapter 1 Section 121: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#121
  11. ^ Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002 (England): http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_cvipsact2002.hcsp

See also

National copyright laws

International treaties

Critique

Other

Some legislation

External links

China

European Union

Israel

Japan

North Korea

Poland

Russia

South Korea

Miscellaneous

Others

Dictionary

copyright

-noun

  1. (uncountable) The right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship.
  2. (countable) Such an exclusive right as it pertains to one or more specific works.
  3. (countable) The copyright symbol ©, a circumscribed C.

-verb

  1. To place under a copyright.
  2. To obtain or secure a copyright for some literary or other artistic work.
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic