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COPYRIGHTS PART 1: STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE

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CHAPTER 1

PART 1: WHAT IS A COPYRIGHT?

A copyright is a legal property right one

has in photographs, art, books, music, and

artistic work. There are six exclusive copyrights

and the most famous of which is the right to

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prevent other people from making a copy of your

work without your permission.

What Is a Copyright?

Copyrights are the six exclusive rights to keep others from

using your work without permission.

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THE SIX COPYRIGHT(S)

(1) to prevent others from making

copies;

(2) to prevent others from preparing

“derivative works” based upon the

copyrighted work;

(3) to prevent others from distributing

copies work to the public;

(4) to prevent others from performing

the work publicly;

(5) to prevent others from displaying the

work publicly; and

(6) to prevent others from performing

songs publicly by means of a digital

audio transmission.

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WHY SHOULD PEOPLE CARE ABOUT

COPYRIGHTS?

Copyrights are important because they

help to drive the economy. They help to

incentivize artist and photographers. Some of

them risk their lives to bring us images from the

war zone or document human right atrocities.

Look at the founding fathers, they wrote

copyrights into the Constitution itself. Today

Intellectual Property is the state’s second largest

export. Copyrights are a really big deal.

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Who Cares about Copyrights?

Copyrights are the second largest export!

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IF YOU WRITE A BOOK OR CREATE AN

IMAGE, DO YOU OWN IT FOREVER?

If you write a book or take a picture you

do not own it forever. You own it for your life

plus 70 years, for your eras. Corporations are a

flat 100 years.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PHOTOGRAPH

COPYRIGHT EXPIRES?

When copyrights expire the photograph

or the book goes into the public domain. What

that means is it’s free for everyone to use.

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WHAT IF A COPYRIGHT IS NOT IN THE

PUBLIC DOMAIN?

If a photograph or book or painting is not

in the public domain. It’s copyrighted. The

general rule is if you didn’t create it you can’t

use it. Now there are exceptions. This video for

example is going to be licensed under which is

called, Creative Commons. That means you can

copy it, you can distribute it, you can use it for

educational purposes.

You can’t use it for commercial, you got

to give attributions, and you can’t change it.

Damages for unauthorized use of copyrights can

be pretty stiff. Up to $150,000, per infringement.

So for example, unwillful infringement of ten

images equals $1.5 million dollars.

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IS THERE A WAY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IS

IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN?

Figuring out what’s in the public domain

is actually a tricky question. Certainly, anything

like before 1923, is generally in the public

domain, but even then you have to be careful. If I

take a modern photograph of the Mona Lisa for

example, I have a thin copyright in my picture of

that painting. You can’t use my picture; you got

to go take your own.

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Comic Book on Fair Use

Comic Book by Law Professor Aoki

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BEFORE 1923 IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN?

Generally, anything before 1923, is going

to be in public domain. There are some new ones

to that rule. Duke University Press did a good in

a book called Bound by Law.

Bound by Law is actually a comic book.

If you Google that, you can download a free

copy.

Generally, anything before 1923, but

keep this in mind. The modern 35MM camera

was invented around 1919 that means almost all

photographs are copy righted.

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HOW DO YOU KNOW IT’S ACTUALLY

COPYRIGHTED?

The moment a work of art is created it

copyrights, that is the rule. The law wants to

protect artist, photographers, and other creative

people to make sure they get paid for their work.

These copyrights help drive the economy. These

artist and photographers help document the

world, we want these people to get paid its

important.

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ON-LINE REFERENCES

Trade Secrets Video

Seattle PI

(Book Review Bound

By Law)

***

http://thetradesecretsofintellectualproperty.com/