Introduction to Copyright

Intro

Copyright is a form of legal protection for certain types of intellectual property. It grants ownership and control to creators of “original” creative works that have been fixed in tangible form. Copyright law does not protect ideas or concepts. Instead, it protects the creative expression of those original ideas and concepts. Only after an idea has been creatively expressed by fixing it in a set tangible form, such as a written document or a recording, do copyright rights apply.

Is copyright the same as authorship?

Under the copyright law, the creator of the original expression in a work is its author. The author is also the owner of copyright unless there is a written agreement by which the author assigns the copyright to another person or entity, such as a publisher. In cases of works made for hire, the employer or commissioning party is considered to be the author. Read more

Functions of Copyright Law

Copyright law has two key purposes. The first is to provide continuing incentives encouraging people to develop creative works. The second purpose is to facilitate productive use of creative content by the public. At times, these two purposes may conflict. Copyright law provides incentive for continuing creation of new works by granting all rights of ownership and control to the creators of those works. By granting these rights to the creators, copyright law rewards the creators by allowing them to control commercial use of the materials, encouraging their creative expression. Copyright law also ensures public access to creative works. By empowering the public to have access to all materials in the public domain, copyright law promotes access to a substantial pool of creative work. Additionally, the copyright law principle of fair use grants public access to copyright protected materials without the permission of the copyright owner for limited, public interest purposes.

Copyright Concerns

Copyright law and policy today faces several important concerns. For example, copyright owners currently face significant challenges associated with unauthorized access to and use of their copyright protected materials (“piracy”). Widespread use of digital media technologies has made it easy for individuals to access, modify, duplicate, and share media content broadly. Many copyright owners are concerned that widespread piracy threatens their ability to manage commercial use of their copyright protected materials effectively. Another important current copyright concern is the fear of reduced access to creative content. Copyright terms are very long, at times lasting for more than a century. In this environment, some fear that the public domain may begin to erode as the flow of new content into the public domain is slowed by the extended length of copyright terms. An additional concern is the seemingly aggressive nature of copyright enforcement. Traditionally, individual copyright owners policed and enforced their rights. Today, major copyright owners, such as motion picture, television and music recording companies can compel intermediaries, such as Internet service providers and online search platforms, to take quick action against alleged infringers by removing content or denying Internet access. In many instances, this process places the burden of justifying access to copyrighted material on the users to show non-infringement instead of on the copyright owners to show infringement.

Expansion of criminal prosecutions under copyright law also raises concerns regarding access to copyrighted materials. Traditionally, criminal prosecution was directed only against major infringers who derived substantial economic gain from misuse of copyrighted material. Today, criminal sanctions are increasingly applied against infringers. Active and broad application of criminal law sanctions for copyright infringement can, if unchecked, undermine the ability of copyright law to promote innovative use of copyrighted content.

Finally, there is concern that overly aggressive enforcement of the “anti-circumvention” provisions of copyright law can block important legitimate use and analysis of copyrighted material. For example, encryption software and technologies are routinely applied to digital media content to prevent piracy and other misuse of that content. While copyright law generally prohibits parties from neutralizing or otherwise decrypting copyrighted protected materials, circumventing or overriding encryption is sometimes necessary for a legitimate user of the protected materials to use those materials. Expanded application of copyright anti-circumvention prohibitions is a subject of continuing discussion and debate.