WEEK 1

In the first unit of this course, we will be covering some basic information about copyright law including:

From this material, you should gain an understanding of what copyright is, why its important, and a general idea of how it has developed and how it exists today. The material covered in Unit #1 corresponds to chapters 1 & 2 of the text.

What Is Copyright?

Although most people have heard of copyright and may have some idea of what it is, there is a general lack of awareness about copyright (i.e., what it protects, why it exists, etc.) not only among the public, but even among people who create copyrightable works and people who work in industries dependent upon copyright ownership. This course is intended to provide a fundamental understanding of copyright law as well as how it applies specifically to the entertainment industry.

Question: A songwriter composes a song which is recorded and then sold on CDs and played on the radio, ultimately reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. An author writes a book which is published and reaches number one on the New York Times Best Seller’s list. An author writes a screenplay which is eventually made into a movie which is released and becomes a number one box office smash. How do all of these creators make money from the works they have created?

Answer: Copyright law provides creators with a group of rights which give them the potential to earn money from their creations. Copyright therefore provides a framework for the creation and distribution of music, books and other literary works, movies, visual artwork (e.g., paintings, sculpture, etc.), computer software, and other types of artistic expression.

Copyright does not guarantee that creators will earn income from their works. That depends on how popular the works become which is often the result of the marketing and promotional efforts of companies such as book publishers, music publishers, record companies and movie production companies. A small percentage of very successful works earn millions and millions over the lifetime of their copyrights while most works earn much less.

So what exactly is copyright?

Copyright is a body of law which gives authors (and others who acquire copyright from authors) protection for their creations and the potential to make money by creating and investing in artistic works. Many different types of works of authorship are protected by copyright including literary, dramatic, musical, visual and other artistic works.

Copyright law says that people who create and invest in the creation of artistic works are generally entitled to decide how their works will be used and made available to the public. It does this by providing copyright owners with a group of exclusive rights which they can exercise or allow others to exercise. These rights are:

Copyright is a form of property ownership and is a type of intellectual property (property which has no physical existence). The actual property (the copyrighted work) such as a book, song, or movie cannot be possessed in itself. Intellectual property is similar to physical property in some respects (e.g., it can be bought, sold & stolen), but different in others (e.g., it can be infringed by multiple infringers often w/o owner’s knowledge).

Selling copyright is often referred to as an assignment of copyright. However, a copyright owner can keep ownership while allowing others to use a copyrighted work in various ways. This is accomplished by issuing a license to use a copyrighted work. A license involves permission to use a work in a specified way, but does not involve a transfer (assignment) of copyright ownership.

Example: A music publisher which owns the copyright to a song can issue mechanical licenses allowing others to make recordings of the song. The publisher could also issue synchronization licenses allowing someone to use the song in a movie or other audiovisual work. The publisher could issue a print license to allow someone to manufacture and distribute sheet music of the song. Finally, the publisher could allow someone to publicly perform the song although this is usually done by middlemen known as performing rights organizations.

Question: Within the last 24 hours, have you done any of the following activities?

Listened to the radio
Watched television
Listened to a compact disc
Read a book, newspaper or magazine
Watched a movie either in a theater or on video at home
Downloaded a file from the Internet
Used software on your computer

Answer: Yes. It is likely that everyone taking this class has done many of these activities. However, all of you have at least used copyrighted software since you are doing so right now in order to view this course online.

How Do You Obtain A Copyright?

Question: David Moser writes a book called "Music Copyright For The New Millennium" and signs a contract authorizing Pro Music Press to publish it. Moser assumes that Pro Music Press will register the copyright while Pro Music Press believes that Moser (since he is a "copyright expert") has already done so. Does the failure to register the work mean it is not protected by copyright?

Answer: No - One of the most fundamental and often misunderstood rule of copyright law is that copyright ownership arises automatically upon the creation of a copyrightable work. By the way, the example above is a fictitious one and if you check the Copyright Office records (as you will learn to do later in this course), you will find that the copyright in "Music Copyright For The New Millennium" has been registered.

Obtaining a copyright is very simple. Just create a copyrightable work and you automatically own a copyright in it. When an author fixes his or her original expression in some tangible form (e.g., written down or recorded on some physical object), a copyright automatically comes into existence (the requirements for copyright will be covered further in Unit #2). Although there is a system for the registration of copyrights in the United States (and most other countries), registration is not required to own a copyright. Registration, although not mandatory, provides a copyright owner with some important benefits if you ever need to enforce your copyright in court.

Why Do We Need Copyright?

Copyright is a means of rewarding authors for their creativity. Creativity provides benefits to society both economically and culturally.

Question: Does copyright exist primarily to benefit authors?

Answer: No - Although copyright does benefit authors, its primary purpose is to benefit us all.

The Founding Fathers recognized that society benefits from the production of creative works of authorship. They included a clause in the United States Constitution commonly referred to as the "Copyright Clause" (or the "Copyright & Patent Clause"). Article I, section 8, clause 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power:

"[T]o promote the progress of Science and the Useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive right to their writings and discoveries"

Many people assume that copyright law is intended to benefit authors. Although this is partly true, it is not the main objective of copyright. Instead, as the Constitutional language about promoting the progress of science and the arts indicates, the main objective is to stimulate people to create artistic works which ultimately benefits the public (the idea being that the more creativity is encouraged, the more knowledge is increased). To accomplish this objective, copyright provides authors with a financial incentive to create. In other words, the best way to motivate people to create is to give them ownership rights in their creations. By owning a copyright in their works, authors have the potential to profit from their creations. However, copyright is not an unlimited right. Copyright is generally subject to limitations when it might be likely to conflict with its primary objective of encouraging the creation of new artistic works.

Example: Copyright law provides, under the doctrine of fair use, that certain uses of copyrighted works can be made without the copyright owner’s permission and without any payment to the copyright owner. Similarly, copyright law provides for compulsory (mandatory) licenses for certain uses of copyrighted works in some circumstances.

Copyright is crucial to the entertainment industries and is a very important part of the U.S. economy. Without copyright, it is not likely that there would be any music and entertainment industries since the main assets of these industries are copyrighted works. Copyright-based industries are estimated to be worth $430 billion annually and copyright-based goods are one of the few areas where the United States has a positive balance of trade (i.e., exports exceed imports).

Abbreviated History Of Copyright

Question: True or False - Copyright is a fairly recent area of law which began in response to rapid changes in technology in the 21^st century?

Answer: False - Copyright has existed for over 200 years. Initially, copyright only involved the right to copy literary works and applied only to printed material.

Copyright has evolved over the past several centuries and now gives authors of all kinds of creative works certain exclusive rights in their creations. Copyright’s evolution over the past three centuries has been primarily due to the development of new technologies which resulted in new forms of creative expression and new media in which works are used.

Whenever the term "Copyright Act" is used in this course, this refers to the 1976 Copyright Act unless specified otherwise. The Copyright Act is found in Title 17 of the United States Code (a collection of federal statutes) and is divided into 13 chapters. Provisions within each chapter are identified by consecutive section numbers.

Throughout this course, the course materials will provide you with links to relevant sections of the Copyright Act which you should review as necessary.

If you're interested in finding out more about the history of copyright, take a look at these websites:

End of Unit #1 Lecture Notes

UNIT #1 - INTRODUCTION TO COPYRIGHT

What Is Copyright?

So what exactly is copyright?

How Do You Obtain A Copyright?

Why Do We Need Copyright?

Abbreviated History Of Copyright

End of Unit #1 Lecture Notes