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US Copyright Law TOP

Learn from the experts about Copyright do's and don'ts including digital rights management, here at the Educational CyberPlayGround.

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Copyright Topics Include: music copyright law, us copyright law, definition of copyright law, plagiarism, digital rights management, fair use, public domain, copyleft, open source, photography and publishing.

Copyright law established internationally by the Berne Convention of 1886 and amended from time to time ever since, most notably in 1909, 1911, 1956 and 1988, protects the works of authors, composers and publishers. This includes copyrights in addition to music, such as in art, literature and other intellectual properties. Ninety-six nations currently are signatories.

Content is just about anything that isn't executable. Content can then be used in an infinity of ways, restricted only by the imagination of the user. One of the most significant uses may be supporting instruction and helping people learn.

The video uses 400 cuts from 27 different Disney films to mock copyright law as overly protective of the interests of copyright owners -- Disney among them. Eric Faden, an assistant professor of English and film studies at Bucknell University, who produced the video with help from seven of his students, said it took eight months to make.

CITATION RULES
Electronic Sources for the APA MLA Styles

"Free as Air, Free As Water, Free As Knowledge" (Speech) ~ Stewert Brand

K12 PRIMER ON COPYRIGHT LAW.
Learn what is ok in the classroom.

PLAGIARISM - CATCHING DIGITAL CHEATERS

ARTS MULTIMEDIA RIGHTS, Protections, Content providers

ABOUT COPYLEFT - COMMON LICENSE
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE AND OPEN SOURCE EXPLAINED

COPYRIGHT vs. COPYLEFT

4th century Ireland renegade bishop St. Columba snuck into Old Man Finnean's library and copied his psalter by hand, and then gave copies out for free to local churches.

FAIR USE RIGHTS and

IP INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

What is the distinction of fair use and why is it important?

A NOBEL AND GREAT TEACHER proves Copyright Owners Exaggerate Their Rights
Wendy Seltzer, a law professor who used to work for the EFF and who founded the awesome Chilling Effects
clearinghouse for providing an archive of various takedown notices, has apparently received her first DMCA take down notice. Seltzer posted a snippet from the Superbowl for her students to see.
Not just any snippet, mind you, but the snippet where its announced: "This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience. Any other use of this telecast or of any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent, is prohibited."
She posted it as an example of a copyright holder exaggerating its rights -- as the NFL cannot ban all of the things they ban in that statement.
The Irony and the Absurdity.
A law professor puts up a short clip for educational purposes (fair use allows both short clips and educational uses of content) for the sake of showing how the NFL exaggerates its copyright control -- and the NFL responds by then sending a DMCA takedown notice to better highlight how they not only exaggerate their claims, but then misuse the law to shut down fair use as well.
The NFL would not intentionally help Seltzer demonstrate how they abuse the law by trying to takedown her example of how of their exaggerated statement which proves Seltzer's point!

BUY A GOV'T RESOURCE AND SET IT FREE FOR YOU AND ME!

Carl Malmud  and Marshall T. Rose
have formed a new nonprofit called public.resource.org. 
Our mission is the creation of public works projects on the net and our initial focus is improving communication between the federal government and people. We've released:

 

COPYRIGHT RESOURCES

ABOUT SELF PUBLISHING

MUSIC AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

 

 

 

 

FAQ: HOW TO MAKE THINGS SECURE

TECHNOLOGY & THE LAW

COPYRIGHT HISTORY

 

It is now and has always been about our unknown culture makers who shape our consciousness vs. the Owners of culture - the Power Elite who through their wealth own the supply chain and can exert their power using thought control over the people. It is now and always has been about your right to know what you want to know. [1] The Roots of Print, Power, Politics, Literacy, Ballads, Plays, Thought and failed Censorship.
Who is allowed to know how to write, who is allowed to read, who is allowed to hear, who is allowed to print, who is allowed to publish!

1710 the British Parliament drafted the Statute of Anne, which was intended to "promote learning and education" within the Empire. This statute both established the concept of the public domain and shifted power back to the authors from publishers. In 1740, the Statute of Anne was reinforced and modified, and became what we know as copyright law. The concepts of copyright and public domain were finally firmly upheld against all legal challenges in 1774, and the founding fathers of the United States lifted the concept for its Constitution.

RIGHTS

We have the right to whatever is in the Smithsonian - the Nation's Attic. Here is where you get the photographs for free.

 

A copyright owner has 5 rights:

The copyright owner can grant permission to someone else to exercise any of these rights.This permission is called a license. The terms of the license agreement determine when, where, how, and to whom the materials are be distributed and at what cost. The terms resolve all the issues discussed between the copyright owner and publisher and are now written into the relevant license agreements.
As is the case with other "property rights"-- which is what copyright stakes its claim upon -- Contracts are the means whereby permission is granted, parties may sign away all or part of their rights to a particular property, upon an offer having been made by one side and agreed to by the other. Though third parties may receive benefits of a contract, they cannot become obligated by one. And here is where the problems start.


Copyright gives.....
The creator of intellectual property protection under copyright law, which is limited to the life of the author plus 70 years. You don't need to do anything under current law to establish copyright--it's no longer necessary, even, to post a copyright notice. All one needs to do is to create the work in a recognized medium, but you want to be able to prove that you created it and when it was created. Under copyright, no one may, really, do anything with your work without your permission.
Get it copyrighted - Register your work with the US Copyright Office. You want to register your copyrights, as it gives you enormous legal protections. When it comes to book authors, that usually means negotiating with the publisher and having it do the registration for you.

Infringement / Stealing Copyrighted Material

Used without permission.  Take a look at the take-down notice provision of Section 512 of the Copyright Act http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/ and http://fairusenetwork.org/reference/td.php).  You can send a takedown notice by email directly to whoever you want in accordance with the Designation of Agent form filed by the company with the Copyright Office.

Why Bother?
Consider filing copyright applications on any web site or other copyrightable work that (1) can be infringed, (2) you care about enough to pursue an infringer, and (3) is worth the $45 filing fee and the time it takes to fill out a 2-page application.  You can download the application forms and circulars from the Copyright Office web site (http://www.copyright.gov/forms/ and http://www.copyright.gov/circs/).

Certificate of Registration
If you're a book author, have you ever seen a certificate of registration? Have you checked the US Copyright Office site and searched to see if there's a record of your copyright registration? Can you find your registration in the online database? If you have written a book under a contract that specified copyright to be registered in your name, check the database.

Government publications are neither copyrighted nor copyrightable.
That includes Web sites. As a general rule, work prepared by the U.S Government is not eligible for copyright. Text of government testimony at committee hearings, speeches by government officials, copies of public laws, the text of court decisions, government information circulars, etc. may not be copyrighted. The rule applies generally to work prepared by U.S. government employees in the scope of their employment (with certain limited exceptions). For example, if government employees prepared abstracts, summaries or headnotes for speeches, court decisions, government publications, etc., those materials would not be copyrightable. The U.S. government has the same rights as private employers when works are prepared by its employees. There are a number of government organizations that publish material. Usually, here is a specific authorizing statute and the material published is not eligible for copyright. Normally, the selling price covers the costs of dissemination, with no provision for profit. OMB sets federal policy with respect to these issues. Circular A-76 and A-25 would be important. The government shouldn't engage in commercial competition. Even stuff developed by contractors (who do have proprietary claims), if delivered to the Government, are at least philosophically in the public domain.

When works pass into the Public Domain

DATE OF WORK
PROTECTED FROM
TERM
Created 1-1-78 or after
When work is fixed in tangible medium of expression
Life + 70 years (1)
(or if work of corporate authorship, the shorter of 95 years from publication, or 120 years from creation 2
Published before 1923
In public domain 
None
Published from 1923 - 63
When published with notice3
28 years + could be renewed for 47 years, now extended by 20 years for a total renewal of 67 years. If not so renewed, now in public domain
Published from 1964 - 77
When published with notice
28 years for first term; now automatic extension of 67 years for second term
Created before 1-1-78 but not published
1-1-78, the effective date of the 1976 Act which eliminated common law copyright
Life + 70 years or 12-31-2002, whichever is greater
Created before
1-1-78 but published between then and 12-31-2002
1-1-78, the effective date of the 1976 Act which eliminated common law copyright
Life + 70 years or 12-31-2047 whichever is greater

1  Term of joint works is measured by life of the longest-lived author.

2  Works for hire, anonymous and pseudonymous works also have this term.  17 U.S.C. § 302(c).

3  Under the 1909 Act, works published without notice went into the public domain upon publication. Works published without notice between 1-1-78 and 3-1-89, effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act, retained copyright only if, e.g., registration was made within five years. 17 U.S.C. § 405.

The federal government's Sentencing Commission
recently voted to stiffen punishment for various copyright and identity theft violations. Counterfeiting and piracy on the Internet can result in a 10-month to 16-month prison sentence, regardless of whether the violator is attempting to turn a profit. The punishment for stealing electronic property, such as songs and writing samples, is calculated by multiplying the value of the item stolen by the number of people who download it. The greater the value, the longer the prison sentence, although the maximum penalty for a first-time offender is three years. Identity theft violations also carry a 10-month to 16-month sentence for first-time offenders, but the punishment will increase if a bogus identification is used to get other phony identification; those who have more than five fake IDs also face stiffer penalties. Increased penalties for copyright violations will begin on May 1, and those for identity theft will be effective on Nov. 1. (Washington Times, 5 April 2000)

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