What is Copyright

Origins of Copyright

• British Statute of Anne

• Copyright Clause of US Const.

• Art 1 S8

• “to promote the progress of science and the useful arts ... securing for limited times to authors and inventors... the exclusive right to their [works]”

Technology’s Role?

• Statute of Anne - 1709

• Scribes and scriveners displaced by printing presses

• Rapid copying

• “causing to be printed, reprinted ... books and writings, to their very detriment, and too often to the ruin of the them and their families, for preventing therefore such practices, and for the encouragement of learned men to compose and write useful books

See any similarities?

• Phonograph

• Radio

• Television

• Cassette (mix tapes)

• Internet

Default Rules

• Copyright statute (title 17)

• S106 - Exclusive rights to reproduction, derivative works, distribution, performance, display, transmission

• Automatic © upon creation

Duration

• By original term:

• CTEA: Life +70 or 120yrs if corp.

• Berne Conv. - Life +50

Copyright Registration

• Prima Facie evidence of validity (if file w/i 5yrs of creation)

• The BIG ONE: Statutory (vs. actual) damages (if filed w/i 3 mos)

• Stat. Dmgs. Title 17 S504

• $750 to $30K per work, or $150K if willful. “innocent infringer” - $200/work

Fair Use

• Is a defense - burden on D to show

• Title 17 S107

• “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research”

• court cases determine the scope

Licensing

• a license to use a work overrides the default rules

• similar to a contract specifying how a work can be used

• not limited to a “stock” license - authors are free to craft their own licenses

Sources of Licenses

• Commercial Licenses

• “Stock Licenses”

• Free Software Foundation

• Creative Commons

Choosing a License

• What do you want to protect?

• Software

• Writings

• Images

• Each has specifics you need to consider. Also, copyright doesn’t protect function. Need patent for that.

Creative Commons Licensing

• Attempt at simplification.

• Other alternatives: GNU Free Documentation License, Apple Commond Documentation License, FreeBSD Doc. license, etc.

• http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#DocumentationLicenses

Creative Commons

• Six primary licenses

• Assembled from common attributes and rights that copyright attempts to regulate

Audience Participation

• What would you want to protect?

• Does the Copyright Statute cover all the scenarios you want to protect?

• What if you actually want to promote, not restrict use of the works?

CC Conditions• Attribution “BY”• 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.

• Share Alike “SA”• allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the

license that governs your work

• Noncommercial “NC”• let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon

it — but for noncommercial purposes only.

• No Derivative Works “ND”• let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work,

not derivative works based upon it.

The actual CC licenses

• Attribution

• Attribution Share Alike

• Attribution No Derivatives

• Attribution Non Commercial

• Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike

• Attr Non Commercial No Derivatives

What do you get?

• Lots and lots of legalese behind the licenses

• Helps define and protect the rights we discussed.

• As bloggers and individuals become authors, we see a democratization of content

• Authors are both consumers and producers

Gotchas

• Contract Law vs. Copyright Law

• Covenants vs. Conditions

• “copyright owner who grants a nonexclusive license waives right to sue licensee for infringement and can only sue on breach of contract”