Class 04: Copyright

Held: Tuesday, 2 September 2003

Related Pages:

• U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 1: Copyright Basics.
• Title 17 of the U.S. Code (as distributed by the U.S. Copyright Office).
• GigaLaw.com: Copyright Law.
• EFF's IP Archive.

Due

• Reading Assignment 2: Williams 1.

Assignments

• Miscellaneous Assignment 3: Course Syllabi (due Thursday).
• Reading Assignment 3: Williams 2 (Clarity) (due Tuesday).

Notes:

• Ms. Green will not be here this week.
• Although I have not given you formal readings on today's topic, I do expect you to have read about it for your essay.
• I am not going to ask you to read about patents for Thursday, since you already have enough work for then.
• Much of the material for this course is available on the World Wide Web.

Overview:

• Causes of Bad Writing.
• Editing Exercise.
• Copyright Background: Purposes, Protections.
• Fair Use: An Exception to Copyright.
• Copyright Issues in the Internet Age.

Causes of Bad Writing

• What, according to Williams, causes bad writing?
• What did you think of his thesis?
• Were you inspired, confused, uninspired or otherwise affected by this chapter?
• What do you think about this chapter as compared to the previous article by Williams?

Style Exercise 1

• See the accompanying handout.
• Note that I may participate in the exercise, too. (Hey, we may even try to round up some folks from Saints' Rest.)

Copyright Basics

Copyrightable Works

• Copyright protects the authors of certain kinds of works.
• Most typically, these works demonstrate some form of creativity.
• The works can be written, painted, filmed, auditory, or any reasonable variation thereof.

Copyright Protects ...

• The right to make (or permit to be made) copies of the work.
• The right to prepare derivative works.
• The right to perform or display works for which performance or display is appropriate.

Why Have Copyright?

• Why do we have copyright?
  • I'd like to hear your understanding first.
• One possible reason: To protect authors.
• A stated reason: To benefit the public good.
  • How does copyright benefit the public good? It encourages people to create works.
  • Here's the quote from The United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8): The Congress shall have 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

Fair Use

• Over the years, it has become clear that there need to be some exceptions to copyright law if copyright is really to serve the public good.
• One such exception is the First Sale Doctrine: Someone who has legally obtained a copy of a work may resell that work.
• A more important exception is Fair Use. A work may be fairly used in a number of circumstances, but particularly for scholarship and education.
• Fair Use is often determined by the courts.

Copyright and Links

• You've had a chance to argue the issue in writing, let's now consider it as a group (and you are free to argue either side): Does copyright law limit a Web author's ability to include links?

New Copyright Problems

• Copyright law was written long before the Internet and computers.
• The Internet and computers therefore raise some interesting questions with regard to copyright.
• Here are a few ... We might discuss them or simply mention them in passing.
• Every time you run a program, the computer makes a copy of that program from its hard disk into memory. Is such a copy a violation of copyright?
• Every time you load a Web page, the computer makes a copy of that Web page from the server. Is such a copy a violation of copyright?
• A collection of links is arguable simply a collection of facts. Would a copy of a collection of links be litagable under copyright law? (E.g., if I copied someone else's list of useful copyright links?)
• Many browsers modify Web pages as they display them (e.g., substituting fonts, removing images, etc.). Do such modifications violate copyright?
• A number of services now modify Web pages in ways useful to the reader. For example, Google will translate a Web page into another language or highlight search terms on a page. Do such modifications violate copyright?
• Newspapers don't own the copyright to articles written by freelancers. What happens to freelance articles when newspapers go online or get archived in CD-ROM?
• Can you (and should you) protect a user interface?
• Artists have often created new works by creatively reusing previous works (e.g., in collage). Can new media works do the same?
• Can databases be protected under IP law?