Copyright

The dictionary definition

The exclusive legal right, given to an originator to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same.

What can and can’t be copyrighted

Can• Books• Paintings• Maps• Musical compositions• Dramatic works• Photographs • Paintings • Prints • Sculptures • motion pictures• Computer programs• Sound recordings• Chorography• Architectural work• Engravings

Can’t•Thoughts •Ideas•Spoken word (unless recorded)•A name (however can be trademarked)•Facts

The benefits

• To have control over the work you create• To make sure your work is used in the way you

intended and/or approve of.• To get recognition for the time and effort you

have put into the creation.• Also to be able to make money from your

creation.

Fair use

• Copyright does not prohibit all copying or replication of creations.

• In the US in the Copyright Act of 1976 the fair use doctrine permits some copying and distribution without the permission of the copyright holder.

• The statute does not clearly define fair use but instead gives factors to consider in fair use analysis.

• In the UK, a similar notion of fair use was established thorough legislation.

• The concept of fair use can be confusing and complicated to understand. However in Canada, private copying for personal use has been permitted since 1999.

Copyright and Piracy

• Piracy is considered to be the illegitimate use of materials held by copyright.

• Piracy primarily targets software, film and music. • File sharing software like “Limewire” and “The Pirate

bay” are one of the main ways which music, films and software are “shared” or in official terms Pirated as work passed from person to person (peer to peer) for free with no recognition given to the creator.

The Pirate Bay

• The Pirate Bay (commonly abbreviated TPB) is a Swedish website which hosts links and torrent files, which allow users to share electronic files, including multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent. The Pirate Bay bills itself as "The world's most resilient BitTorrent site"and is currently ranked as the 85th most visited website in the world and 17th in Sweden, has over 5 million registered users and, as of 2011 and it hosts more than 3.5 million torrent files. According to the Los Angeles Times, The Pirate Bay is "one of the world's largest facilitators of illegal downloading" and "the most visible member of a burgeoning international anti-copyright or pro-piracy movement"

True or False?

If it doesn’t have a copyright notice its not copyrighted.

False. Although true in the past but today all major nations follow the Berne copyright convention. You should always assume other peoples work is copyrighted, unless you know otherwise.

True or False?

If I don’t charge for my creation which includes other peoples copyrighted work its not a violation.

False. Whether you charge can affect the damages awarded in court but its still seen as a violation if you give it away for free. And there can be serious damages if you hurt the commercial value or integrity of the creation.

However if the work has no commercial value, the violation is mostly technical and is unlikely to end in legal action.

True or False?

You don’t have to defend your copyright to legally keep it.

True. Copyright is effectively never lost, unless explicitly given away. Although in some cases it can “run out” 70 years after the death of the creator.

True or False?

If I make up my own creation but base it on another persons work, my new work belongs to me e.g. A computer game with characters based from someone else's book.

False. Copyright law is quite explicit that the making of what is called “derivative works” (works based or derived from another copyrighted work). The new work belongs to the original creator no matter how hard/long/expensive the creative process was.

Bibliography

Images and facts from • http://musically.com• http://musicbusinesshacker.com• http://iammusicuk.tumblr.com• http://technologyblogged.com• http://

www.ifpi.org/content/section_views/what_is_copyright.html

• http://templetons.com