And At Last I See The Light
10 years ago
Copy Right Law Survey!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Copy Right Cases
There is a strict copy right law on media today. It hasn't always been that way, but through specific court cases, we have gotten where we are now. Here are two cases that show some of the laws which have been the outcome due to court rulings.
Miller v. Universal Studios
This case is based on an abduction that happened in 1968. A college-aged daughter was kidnapped from a motel room and buried alive. Surprisingly she lived through this for five days until she was rescued. A news reporter, Gene Miller, collaborated with the victim to write a book about the crime. A book was written along with a condensed very in Reader's Digest. Soon after a Universal Studios producer read the condensed version and thought it would make a good movie. He got a copy of the book and gave it to the scriptwriter who began work on the screenplay. Movie rights were taken by Universal, but Miller was never asked. The scriptwriter was advised that it was forbidden, but the movie was completed and aired on ABC. What was determined at the trial was whether or not the scriptwriter had used the book to write the screenplay or whether it was from his own view on the story. Miller testified of numerous similarities and proved that the movie infringed his copyright. It was then questioned on whether or not an author's research is protected by copyright. Is research copyrightable? An extended jury charge said, "Copyrightability is best defined in terms of what can and cannot be copyrighted. Ideas can never be copyrighted. Only the particular expression of an idea can be copyrighted....if an author, in writing a book concerning factual matters, engages in research on those matters, his research is copyrightable." This is that copyright only includes the kind expression of facts author uses not the actual facts themselves. So there is no copyright in the idea or theme of a story, but there may be copyright in how it is told dramatically by the author.
This is important to copyright law because we need to be careful when writing about an incident that really happened. When researching that topic or story, we need to be careful and depict from what the author is saying and from what really happened. That is when exaggeration happens, people don't get there stories straight.
Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service-
Rural is a telephone corporative in northwest Kansas. Feist does the same thing by compiling lists of phone numbers but they do it for a larger geographical area. Feist was compiling a book and had 11 other areas and needed the numbers from Rural to complete the book. Rural would not let them have the numbers, possibly because the two companies were competitors. So Feist when behind Rural's back and took the numbers (or at least a good majority) they wanted. They would have gotten away with it but Rural had a detection system to let them know some of their information had been copies. So they sued Feist for copyright infringement. In the lower courts the judge ruled in favor of Rural. However, when it went to the Supreme Court they ruled in favor of Feist, saying that the numbers were not copyrightable, so there was no infringement. This is because they ruled that 'fact' is not able to be copyrighted. However, any expression or personality that and author has used to write this fact, written down and not cited would be copyrightable. For example when we write a research paper about disney world and we say that "Disney World in FL has four main amusement parks; Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood studios, and EPCOT."
Even if you read that out of a book, you would not have to worry about citing it or using the information in a paper because it is fact that those 4 parks are there. Also you can copy recopies down because they are facts. You need these ingredients to get this dish. However, you can not right the steps word for word, because that would
infringe on copyright.
Copy right law is important because there are necessary checks and balances for privacy and protection of people's lives.
By: Sarah Headrick
Miller v. Universal Studios
This case is based on an abduction that happened in 1968. A college-aged daughter was kidnapped from a motel room and buried alive. Surprisingly she lived through this for five days until she was rescued. A news reporter, Gene Miller, collaborated with the victim to write a book about the crime. A book was written along with a condensed very in Reader's Digest. Soon after a Universal Studios producer read the condensed version and thought it would make a good movie. He got a copy of the book and gave it to the scriptwriter who began work on the screenplay. Movie rights were taken by Universal, but Miller was never asked. The scriptwriter was advised that it was forbidden, but the movie was completed and aired on ABC. What was determined at the trial was whether or not the scriptwriter had used the book to write the screenplay or whether it was from his own view on the story. Miller testified of numerous similarities and proved that the movie infringed his copyright. It was then questioned on whether or not an author's research is protected by copyright. Is research copyrightable? An extended jury charge said, "Copyrightability is best defined in terms of what can and cannot be copyrighted. Ideas can never be copyrighted. Only the particular expression of an idea can be copyrighted....if an author, in writing a book concerning factual matters, engages in research on those matters, his research is copyrightable." This is that copyright only includes the kind expression of facts author uses not the actual facts themselves. So there is no copyright in the idea or theme of a story, but there may be copyright in how it is told dramatically by the author.
This is important to copyright law because we need to be careful when writing about an incident that really happened. When researching that topic or story, we need to be careful and depict from what the author is saying and from what really happened. That is when exaggeration happens, people don't get there stories straight.
Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service-
Rural is a telephone corporative in northwest Kansas. Feist does the same thing by compiling lists of phone numbers but they do it for a larger geographical area. Feist was compiling a book and had 11 other areas and needed the numbers from Rural to complete the book. Rural would not let them have the numbers, possibly because the two companies were competitors. So Feist when behind Rural's back and took the numbers (or at least a good majority) they wanted. They would have gotten away with it but Rural had a detection system to let them know some of their information had been copies. So they sued Feist for copyright infringement. In the lower courts the judge ruled in favor of Rural. However, when it went to the Supreme Court they ruled in favor of Feist, saying that the numbers were not copyrightable, so there was no infringement. This is because they ruled that 'fact' is not able to be copyrighted. However, any expression or personality that and author has used to write this fact, written down and not cited would be copyrightable. For example when we write a research paper about disney world and we say that "Disney World in FL has four main amusement parks; Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood studios, and EPCOT."
Even if you read that out of a book, you would not have to worry about citing it or using the information in a paper because it is fact that those 4 parks are there. Also you can copy recopies down because they are facts. You need these ingredients to get this dish. However, you can not right the steps word for word, because that would
infringe on copyright.
Copy right law is important because there are necessary checks and balances for privacy and protection of people's lives.
By: Sarah Headrick
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
My Personal Opinion
There will never be a practical way of ensuring that music is never distributed illegally. The music industry is going to have to deal with it and cut their losses. This could weed out the people that just want to make money from the people that only care about making music.
I think a song is not something you should charge people to enjoy, If you want to make money as a musician make it by doing concerts. I know people that are not popular or just starting out lose money doing gigs but it's not like their music is being pirated anyway. If only a small percentage of the music industry is the multi-millionaires than you can bet that the same percentage are the only people getting their music pirated because they're the only ones popular enough to make it on the peer-to-peer networks, and at that point it's not like they would suffer much from it.
I would not feel guilty about not paying for my music. I think it is ridiculous that people can make millions with some of the stuff out there that I wouldn't even consider music. You have a lot of people in America that work over forty hours a week doing jobs that are more important than writing songs and they get paid next to nothing. I think having the open sharing of music will at least even things out a little.
Despite what you may get from this I want readers to know that it is the law I think needs to change. Until it does we all have to obey it.
-Brian KelleyIt's the Law
The first question many people may ask is what exactly is copy right and what is necessary to have a work copyrighted? First thing first, copyright is defined as “The right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship.” Notice the phrase “by law.” The law that protects ownership on a copyrighted material is Title 17 of the U.S. Code. This breaks down just about every thing you need to know about U.S. copy right. Click here to view the U.S. Official title 17 site! Next, to claim ownership or have something copyrighted there are three requirements. The first is fixation. This occurs the minute a picture is taken, a lyric is recorded, a scene is shot or a brush stroke is painted. Fixation is simply the medium the work of art takes (movie, painting, song ect.) Next comes originality. This meant he work must be original to its producer. It can’t replicate something that has already been done, or even imitate it. It must be purely the work of the artist creating it. Finally there is minimal creativity. This means that it must be something that took at least some degree of talent or creativity. This prevents everyone from copyrighting, every picture they have ever drawn from pre-school up.
So now we know what copyright is and what is required to claim copyright on a material. Now lets say we have something copyrighted to our name. What entitlements do we have? These rights can be found in section 106 of the copyright law. Here is a list of a few rights you have as the owner of a copyrighted work. You first have the exclusive rights regarding what happens to it. All authorization must come from you. Next you can reproduce it without any reproductions. You can decide if you want the work to be available to the public either by sale or by if you would like to rent/lease it to a museum or other place of interest. You may personally perform or display the work in public or extent permission for someone else to. So as the holder of a copyrighted material you have a lot of different options or choices on how to use your material.
Now as many of us know, copyright on a material does not last forever, and ever. There are time restraints on them. The laws regarding the time length of a copyrighted material before entering the pubic domain have been changed frequently over the last 100 years and can be very confusing. Lets keep it simple and start with a work of art first published in the U.S. (This would be if you went out today and got a picture you took copyrighted) This copyright would hold for seventy years after your (the authors) death. Now what about those beautiful poems we come across that have unknown authors. Did you know that have a copyright? For works of art that are never published or registered have a copyright period of 120 years after creation. This can of course get complicated it you don’t know the exact date, but in fact there is a law protecting these works as well. Click here to see a chart on length of copyright and conditions (you must click on the blue link on the page this takes you to for the chart to pull up!)
So now you have some basic information on what copyright is, how to obtain it and the duration you will have it for. Remember that it is important to be honest and give credit where credit is due. Be sure to always site your sources in research paper, avoid illegal downloading and printing off picture you don’t hold the rights to. There are severe punishments for pirating and plagiarizing. They could get you kick out of school or land you in prison. Think first, and be honest!
So now we know what copyright is and what is required to claim copyright on a material. Now lets say we have something copyrighted to our name. What entitlements do we have? These rights can be found in section 106 of the copyright law. Here is a list of a few rights you have as the owner of a copyrighted work. You first have the exclusive rights regarding what happens to it. All authorization must come from you. Next you can reproduce it without any reproductions. You can decide if you want the work to be available to the public either by sale or by if you would like to rent/lease it to a museum or other place of interest. You may personally perform or display the work in public or extent permission for someone else to. So as the holder of a copyrighted material you have a lot of different options or choices on how to use your material.
Now as many of us know, copyright on a material does not last forever, and ever. There are time restraints on them. The laws regarding the time length of a copyrighted material before entering the pubic domain have been changed frequently over the last 100 years and can be very confusing. Lets keep it simple and start with a work of art first published in the U.S. (This would be if you went out today and got a picture you took copyrighted) This copyright would hold for seventy years after your (the authors) death. Now what about those beautiful poems we come across that have unknown authors. Did you know that have a copyright? For works of art that are never published or registered have a copyright period of 120 years after creation. This can of course get complicated it you don’t know the exact date, but in fact there is a law protecting these works as well. Click here to see a chart on length of copyright and conditions (you must click on the blue link on the page this takes you to for the chart to pull up!)
So now you have some basic information on what copyright is, how to obtain it and the duration you will have it for. Remember that it is important to be honest and give credit where credit is due. Be sure to always site your sources in research paper, avoid illegal downloading and printing off picture you don’t hold the rights to. There are severe punishments for pirating and plagiarizing. They could get you kick out of school or land you in prison. Think first, and be honest!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Funny Copy Right Video and BYU Tutorial!
This video was introduced to me a while back. I think it is pretty clever. I'm a huge Disney fan and it is funny to see how they are able to use the clips of the movies to make a video that talks about copy right. The irony of it all is that, the movies they use are obviously all copyrighted. However, since a substantial piece of the work is not being used, it is not considered copyright!
Also if you are interesting in more information on copy right law, this is a great website. It is actually a tutorial Brigham Young University put together on Copy Right. Its very informative and there is a fun quiz at the end :)
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
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