Class 04: Copyright ; Writing: Correctness

Held: Tuesday, 30 August 2005

Summary: Today we consider the basics of U.S. Copyright law and one of McLeod's central criticisms of that law (those laws?).

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

• Williams 2.
• Miller III.
• McLeod 3.

Handouts:

• Style Exercise 1: Turgid Prose.

Notes:

• For those of you who were wondering about my choice to make you write term as Web site, rather than website, check out this article.
• Don't forget that you have a miscellaneous assignment due on Thursday, as well as a writing assignment.

Overview:

• Copyright basics.
• Some new problems.
• Editing exercise.
• McLeod 3.

U.S. Copyright Basics

• What were your initial reactions to the Miller reading?
• Background: What's the difference between common law and statuatory law?
• What kinds of things does U.S. copyright protect?
• What rights does U.S. copyright grant?
• Why does the U.S. have copyright law?

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.

• 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?
• 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 onto the memory of the local computer (and, in many cases, onto the local hard drive). 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?

Style Exercise 1

• See the accompanying handout.

McLeod 3

• What is McLeod's central thesis?
• How does he argue that thesis?
• What evidence does he provide for his thesis?
• What problems do you see in his writing?
  • As argument?
  • As writing?