Copyright Laws

Copyright Laws

Team B - Final Paper

University of Phoenix

BUS415

Abstract

Copyright laws have approached the forefront over the last few years; we will look further into these issues of patents, copyrights, and trademarks. We will educate the reader about copyrights, and discuss the differences of patents, copyrights, and trademarks. The paper will discuss the current copyright laws designed to protect the author and user of a product. The paper will provide many objectives of the issues affecting the courts today.

Introduction:

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship" including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

* To reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

* To prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

* To distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

* To perform the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, and

* To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work.

It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the Act to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. Sections 107 through 119 of the Copyright Act establish limitations on these rights. In some cases, these limitations are specified exemptions from copyright liability. One major limitation is the doctrine of "fair use," which is given a statutory basis in section 107 of the Act. In other instances, the limitation takes the form of a "compulsory license" under which certain limited uses of copyrighted works are permitted upon payment of specified royalties and compliance with statutory conditions (Copyright Office). It is very common for the average person to have difficulties making distinctions between copyright, patents, and trademarks. Each of these legal terms has to do with the protection of authors and creators original works, these properties both intellectual and real have value and using them without permission can be construed as theft or plagiarism which can result in legal actions being brought against the unauthorized user. The Unites States legal system operates under case law; this report outlines historical case where copyright infringement has been brought to trial successfully and cases that have been overturned in higher courts. This report also enters into discussion about what copyright isn't as well as walking the reader through the legal definition and execution of the law.

Copyright Laws Defined:

In the 15th century copyright laws did not exist due to the fact many of the people in Europe could not read or have the opportunity to obtain written works. As more people became more educated and books became less expensive the royal government of England granted a publishing monopoly to the publishers of the Stationers' Company. Within this guild many of the publishers would write their works and the other publishers would refrain from any competition out of respect for one another, this was the beginnings of copyright laws. This private arrangement was replaced in 1710 by the British Parliament called the Statute of Anne, named after Queen Anne who reigned from 1702 to 1714. This granted the authors the exclusive rights to authorize the printing of books for a certain amount of years.

The delegates of the United States Constitution of 1787 knew of the importance of Statutes of Anne and created Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution with a clause. The clause gives the congress the power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries" (MS Encarta). The first United States copyright law was enacted in 1790 and has been frequently amended in reaction to new inventions over the years. The major revision the United States congress has made was the Copyright Act of 1909 and replaced by the Copyright Act of 1976. There have been no major revisions after this, although congress has amended the 1976 Copyright Act a few times. With the advent of the internet age, congress has had to implement many changes to keep up with the fast growing technology age. The widespread digital age has become the most challenging for instituting copyright laws. For, many people become confused between the different areas of patents, copyrights, and trademark laws, what is legal, and what is illegal.

The Differences between Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks:

A patent is granted to the inventor for 20 years, this would protect the invention from others to make, use, offer for sale, or sell the invention in the United States or "importing" the invention into the United States. It offers the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.

Copyright laws encompass a form of protection provided to the authors of "original works of authorship" including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. The 1976 Copyright Act gives the owner of the copyright exclusive rights to reproduce the copyrighted work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly, or to display the copyrighted work publicly. A copyright is the exclusive right to reproduce or authorize others to reproduce artistic, dramatic, literary, or musical works (Oxford). A copyright now lasts for the author's lifetime plus 70 years from the end of the year in which the author has died due to the Copyright, Designs, and