Materials
Not Creative Enough to be Protected.
No lines are drawn by the law between what is creative
enough to be protected by copyright and what is not
creative enough. Only cases and statutes tell us what is
or is not creative enough. The Copyright Act says,
In no case does copyright protection for an original work
of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process,
system, method of operation, concept, principle, or
discovery, regardless of the form in which it is
described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such
work.
5
Idea/Expression
Dichotomy.
You hear the phrase "freedom of expression" as describing
the First Amendment right. It is really the freedom to
communicate facts and ideas that the First Amendment
protects.
6 Copyright law protects the
expression of facts and ideas, not the ideas and facts
themselves. Works that have not been fixed to a tangible
medium are just ideas. Ideas are fair game for everyone
to express in their own words. And ideas have been stolen
since the dawn of art and literature. Here are some
examples
7 :
- Canterbury Tales by Chaucer took ideas from the Italian author, Boccaccio.
- Shakespeare took plots for 90 Percent of his greatest plays from other authors.
- Dimitri Yernetz wrote a series of books about a young magician under the title Tanya Grotter, written after J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter.
- Cameron Crowe's movie Vanilla Sky was a
remake of a 1997 Spanish movie called Open Your
Eyes. Penelope Cruz starred in both.
Works with
Expired Copyrights ("Public Domain").
When a copyright expires, the work is said to fall or
merge into the "Public Domain." This means the work is no
longer protected and anyone can copy, distribute,
display, or perform the work. Any work that was created
or published before 1923 is now in the Public Domain.
Many works created much later than 1923 are also in the
public domain because certain formalities required by law
at the time were not satisfied. There are other ways
works can wind up in that category. Any work created by
the federal government is automatically in the Public
Domain.
8 Anyone can also donate
their works to the Public Domain by providing a statement
that anyone may copy the work.
For more detail about the duration of copyrights and the Public Domain, see:
Public Domain and Duration of
Copyrights
Public Domain Chart
Public Domain
Resources
Work that is
Copied as Fair Use.
There is a limited exception to the author or artist's
monopoly over the use of works. If the purpose of copying
is for education, research, teaching, comment, or
criticism and other factors apply, the copying
may qualify as a "fair use" exception to the prohibition
of copying or other exclusive rights of copyright. If
fair use applies, permission to copy is not required. See
Fair Use .
5 17 USC Section
102(b)
6 Harper & Row
Publishers, Inc. vs. Nation Enterprises, 471 U.S. 539,
556 (1985)
7 "What a Great Idea. Think
I'll Steal it." James Adams, The Globe and Mail.
February 19, 2003. www.globeandmail.com.
8 17 USC Section 105