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There are many issues involved in copyright protection law that may require the services of an experienced attorney. The firm can provide services such as copyright litigation representation, registering copyright protection, and counseling as to liability, fair use on the Internet, intellectual property audits and more. Contact the firm about your copyright issue for more about the CyberLaw PC advantage. Remember, the initial consultation is free.
More About Copyright
In today’s digital world, issues of copyright become more and more salient to small business and consumers. Copyright is the legal term used to describe the rights a person has to control the use of their original works. By assuring that the original owner of a work can control legal control over it’s use, innovation and creativity is encouraged. If a person could not control their original works and the ways in which the works were used, there would be little incentive for artists, writers, musicians and others to educate and entertain us.
The rights that belong to an original creator of a work are found in the United States Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 106). Because we don’t want every original work to have to be registered or regulated, copyright automatically attaches to an original work once the work is published in some way. A work may be published in a traditional way, such as in a book or on a compact disc, or it may be published in other ways, such as posting on a blog or website, sending an e-mail or performing a song at a coffee house. Generally, as long as the work is shared with others in some “permanent” way, the work has been published and may be protected by copyright. For example, the words you are reading right now are protected by copyrights, because this is an original work that has been published on the CyberLaw website.
Of course, we wouldn’t want to have to have all of the original works ever created exclusively under the control of the original author, because it would prevent us from learning or commenting on the original works.
Section 107 of the United States Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 107) understands this problem by setting out certain exceptions to a creator’s copyrights. These exceptions are generally known as “Fair Use” exceptions. A person other than the creator of the original work may use the work for purposes of “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research.”
In determining whether a certain use of a work is acceptable courts typically consider four factors:
- The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or for non-profit purposes.
- The nature of the copyrighted work.
- The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
- The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
As an example, consider a situation where a teacher purchases a digital copy of the ”The Color Purple” in an online bookstore. To save her students money, the teacher makes digital copies of three of the book's chapters for each of her students by using a CD burner. She distributes the CDs in her class of 30 students. Has the teacher violated the Copyright Act?
The teacher will argue that she has the rights to make copies as she did, because she is simply making multiple copies for classroom use as allowed under the Copyright Act. She will also argue that the purpose of the copies is for scholarship, research and comment upon the work in classes.
On the other hand, the copyright owner of the book will argue that the teacher’s use is not protected. Even if it were being used in a classroom setting, the teacher’s decision to copy a large portion of the work thirty times would probably have a very detrimental effect on the potential market for the book, because the teacher’s acts led to thirty potential customers not purchasing the book.
Who would win in this situation? While we don’t know for sure, chances are good the side with the best advocate and attorney would have the advantage. CyberLaw can give you the edge in copyright matters. Contact the firm to learn more.
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