Copyright
Student’s Name
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Copyright
Introduction
Copyright entails the creation of a legal right by the laws of a country that gives exclusive rights to the creator of an original work for the use and distribution of such work. This, however, is usually valid for a limited period. It is worth noting that the exclusive rights are limited by exceptions and limitations to copyrights, thereby making them not absolute. Furthermore, copyrights apply to certain forms of creative work as an intellectual property right. Under the Copyright Law of the United States, fixed tangible medium representation is the only attachment to the legal protection. This legal protection is more often than not shared between different authors where they each hold a set of rights to license or use the work and referred to as rights holders.
The Copyright Act dates back to January 1958 when it was officially effected though it has gone through several amendments till 2012 when the amendments were most substantial. There were several reasons for these amendments, but the most conspicuous one was to ensure that the act conformed to WPPT and WCT so as to address the concerns of the music and film industry and give it protection. Other concerns addressed by the amendments included but not limited to protecting the physically handicapped persons, the interest of authors of any work, enforce rights and remove operational facilities among others.
Thesis statement
There are several arguments that have been advanced in support of the amendments to the 2012 Copyright Act. This paper aims to explore the copyright laws, key amendments to the Copyright Act, people’s value of copy rights vs. author’s value of copy rights, and comparing the gains and losses of the same using examples.
The copyright laws
PURPOSE OF COPYRIGHT
The main goal of the copyright goals is to promote the progress of science and useful arts by giving them exclusive rights over their products for a limited time. They have the sole ownership of distributing their products or even performing them publicly. They also have the right to allow other people or parties to use their works. This, therefore, means that anyone who uses work that is copyrighted without the owner’s permission is subject to face charges in the federal court. Through this law people have had a chance to benefit financially from their works and be responsible for those works.
WORKS SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT
The existence of this law does not mean that it is there to protect each and every thing. The law has clearly outlined the works that it can protect and these are inclusive of only those works that are of the status of originality. These laws protect; literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and other intellectual works. This kind of protection can be offered both to published or even unpublished works. Examples of such works are musical, dramatic, sound recordings, pantomimes and choreographic works, derivative works among many others.
Idea- expression dichotomy- Here the law protects the expression of an idea but not the idea itself. For example, one can address the issue of the disease HIV/AIDS in a paper. That paper has a right to copyright because it represents his personal view but the idea of HIV/AIDS cannot have that right therefore someone else can pick that idea and develop it in his way.
The copy right laws also protect artistic articles but not useful articles. The way work has been expressed, the mode of expression and even tools of expression is what is protected by the copyright. For the law states;
“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. An article that is normally a part of a useful article is considered a “useful article”.
“the design of a useful article, as defined in this section, shall be considered a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work only if, and only to the extent that, such design incorporates pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article”
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS UNDER COPYRIGHT
The copy right laws outline six basic rights that the owner of the works at hand has been granted and they include;
-He can digitally transmit any of his sound recordings using digital audio transmission
Permission to perform publicly any of the works in the case of literary, musical, pantomimes, motion pictures and other audio-visual works
-He can publicly display the work in the case of choreographic works, musical, dramatic, pantomimes and motion pictures or audio- visual works
-Permission to prepare derivative works based upon the work
-To reproduce the work in copies or phone records
-To distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental lease or lending
Key Amendments to the Copy Right Act
The amendment contained a variety of changes that were made to the Act. These changes included;
a) Copying sound recordings for private and domestic use. This private recording right allows consumers to make a copy of legitimately acquired recording that could either be physical or digital for their domestic use and this copy can be played on different devices that belong to the consumer. This exception does not allow the consumer to sell or distribute the private copy or perform them in public. He also cannot share, download or distribute it online.
b) Time shifting- Consumers can record television or radio programmes to view or listen to at a later time. But this does not allow them to use it over and over again, sell or distribute the copies or let them be used in public.
c) Format shifting of some Formats- Consumers can scan a book, magazine or photograph owned by the producer for own personal use. They can also re-format a video owned by the producer onto DVD format for personal use.
d) Enforcement- The amendments introduce a variety of copy right offences where the most serious offence is the indictable offence that contains knowledge element. He if the defendant knowingly commits the infringement he then is subject to a criminal charge. Summary offences are just like indictable but require a lower knowledge level and require smaller fines. Strict liability offences are underpinned by an infringement notice scheme set out in the copyright regulations where police are allowed to issue on the spot fines to offenders.
Importance of copy right laws
The importance of copyright laws is quite different when it comes to the consumer/people and to the author. The benefits that the author gets from the laws are quite different from how the consumer is affected by the laws.
AUTHOR
In my opinion, the author stands to gain more from these laws than what the consumer gains. The laws help honor the author by giving only him exclusive rights to his works. It’s only him who can publicly present his works if he so wishes. This gives him the publicity and honor that he deserves.
The laws give the author a chance to gain economically or financially from his works. He has the exclusive right to sell and distribute his work. The law protects him from malicious people who would want to reduce his sales by creating a market for themselves.
The laws also serve to protect the authenticity of people’s works. These laws prevent any one form diluting and ruining the initial content that had been produced by the author. It keeps works produced authentic with reliable information and not propaganda.
THE PEOPLE/CONSUMER
The consumer also stands to gain from the copy right laws. It helps keep him on track so that he knows exactly what is considered wrong when it comes to other people’s works. He will not commit such crimes because he has the advantage of awareness.
The consumer is also given a chance and challenge to come up with his work especially when it comes to the law on ideas. He has the right to pick up an idea already tackled and develop and express it in his unique way.
References
Nimmer, D. (2013). Nimmer on copyright. LexisNexis.
Geller, P. E. (2015). The Celestial Jam Session: Creative Sharing Online Caught in Conflicts of Copyright Laws. European Intellectual Property Review (EIPR), 37, 490-497.
Belleflammea, P., & Peitzb, M. (2014). Digital piracy
Pallante, M. A. (2015). Robert W. Kastenmeier: Enduring Imprint on Copyright Law. Wis. L. Rev., 585.
Heller, K. A., Mönks, F. J., Subotnik, R., & Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.). (2000). International handbook of giftedness and talent. Elsevier.
