Promotion of the Arts.
Copyright law is intended to promote and advance art.
We all like art, so we would like to see more of it.
How do we get artists to create more of it? We can help
them get paid for their efforts. Hundreds of years ago,
most artists struggled to survive. Even Mozart, a
brilliant musician and composer, was reported to be
relatively poor.
The first copyright law came from England in 1710 when
the "Statute of Ann" was passed to protect booksellers
and printers from anyone copying their work without
permission. In the United States, the Constitution was
first to direct Congress to make laws to promote the
arts and sciences. 1 Today, many artists still struggle
financially until they produce something that is in
high demand.
.jpg)
Posted by permission from Benjamin Osgood.
Eminem says he used to be poor. But now, because he has
sold so many CDs, he is a multimillionaire. Stephen
King sells many books, so he is paid very well. George
Lucas is quite wealthy because he created the Star
Wars movies. Because of copyright law, artists,
writers, and musicians have a monetary incentive to
make as much of their art as they can. It seems to work
because we now have artwork everywhere. Radios play
music continuously. We have libraries full of books to
educate and entertain us. Our clothing has designs
created by professional artists. Just about everywhere
you look, art in some form can be seen and
appreciated.
© ® ™
The Difference
Between Copyright, Patent, and
Trademarks.
Copyrights, patents, and trademarks are considered
"intellectual property." Patents give inventors the
exclusive right to duplicate their invention's design.
Patents cover devices, formulas, tools, and anything
that has utility. The recipe for a unique sausage can
have a patent. To get a patent, you must apply to the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and submit the
invention's design. You must show that the design is
unique. A patent examiner will determine if you are
entitled to a patent. If so, a patent is granted that
prohibits anyone else from making, using, offering for
sale, selling or importing the invention. A patent
lasts 20 years.
A trademark is a word, phrase, or logo that identifies a product, a service, or the person or company that offers a product or service to the public. You must apply to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register a federal trademark. If your trademark is registered, you can generally prevent anyone else from using a mark that may confuse the public about who offers the product or service. There are also common-law trademarks that are automatic in the area where the product or service is being advertised, unless a federal trademark has been previously registered.
Copyrights apply to art, music, plays, movies, literature, and scholarly works. They are automatic and require no registration or other formality. They prevent others from copying the work. Copyrights last for the artist's or author's life plus 70 years.
For more information about patents and trademarks, visit: www.uspto.gov
Artists' Exclusive
Rights.
How do they work? Copyright law gives artists a
monopoly on their work – certain rights that only
the artist may exercise. The artwork's creator is the
only one who can:
- Make copies of the work;
- Make derivatives or revisions;
- Distribute or publish the work;
- Perform the work in public (if the work is a poem, song, play, or movie);
- Display the work in public (if the work is a painting, graphic, photo, sculpture or other still-image work); and
- Perform the work in public by digital transmission (if the work is a sound recording). 2
The artist can sell the work or any of the exclusive
rights to it. Eminem sold his copyrights to the
recording company. Stephen King, for some of his first
books, sold his copyrights to the publisher. Artists
can sell rights to their work because no one else can
entertain the public without the rights or at least
permission from the artist. If someone does anything
with an artist's work that falls within any of the
exclusive rights without owning them or having
permission, he "infringes" the artist's copyright. If
you made bootleg copies of Eminem's music, his record
company can sue you for copyright infringement because
they hold the copyrights to the music. See How Copyright
Protects, for the legal consequences of infringing
copyrights. Also see Downloading or Sharing
Files/Software.
What is Required to be
Protected by Copyright.
What kinds of
work are protected by copyright? Any work that is
expressed in a tangible medium, original, and has the
least bit of creativity is protected by copyright.
-
Fixed in a Tangible Medium.
The work must be recorded somehow. If the work is a book, the content must be written down. Even an audiotape of the author telling the story fixes the work in a tangible medium. A book written entirely in Braille is fixed in a tangible medium. A song must either be recorded or scored so that someone else can hear or read the music. Photographs are tangible mediums and meet this requirement automatically. In other words, the idea behind the work must be able to be read, seen, heard, or understood by others. -
Original.
It has to be original. You cannot claim copyright protection to work that was created by someone else or copy someone else's work and claim you are the author or artist. -
Creative.
The material must also be creative. How creative? The Supreme Court says, "...the requisite level of creativity is extremely low; even a slight amount will suffice." The vast majority of works make the grade quite easily, as they possess some creative spark, "no matter how crude, humble, or obvious" it might be." 3
Art can be expressed in an infinite number of ways. Copyright law is designed so that any original work that has the slightest creativity may be protected from unauthorized copying, performing, displaying, or any of the other rights that only the artist may exercise. The Copyright Act recognizes specifically these works:
- Literary works (such as poems, fiction and nonfiction books)
- Music including the lyrics
- Dramatic works including the soundtrack or music (includes plays and operas)
- Pantomimes and choreography
- Pictorial, graphic and sculptural works
- Movies and audiovisual recordings
- Sound recordings
- Architecture 4
Many other works are also protected by copyright. A
child's finger painting. A doodle in a notebook by a
student bored in class. A snowman. A sand castle. A
love letter. Graffiti. Even e-mail can be protected if
it's original and the least bit creative.
What is not
required.
Until 1978, you were required to register your work
with the Library of Congress and to provide a copyright
notice before your work was protected. After 1978 and
presently, formalities are no longer required. Your
copyright springs into existence the instant the work
becomes fixed to a tangible medium.
1
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. U.S. Constitution, Art. 1,
Section 8, Clause 8.
2 17 USC
Section 106.
3 Feist
Publications, Inc. vs. Rural Telephone Service Co., 499
U.S. 340 (1991)
4 17 USC
Section 102(a)