Transcript Introduction to the Law

Copyright Law: By Example
Jody Blanke, Professor
Computer Information Systems
and Law
Mercer University, Atlanta
Ilani

Ilani, Rachael and Melissa chip in to buy a
copy of Ian Rankin’s latest novel, Mortal
Causes. They go to a copy center, and make
two photocopies of the book. They draw
straws to see who gets to keep the book and
who gets stuck with the photocopies. The
scheme works so well that they decide to do
the same thing with their Educational
Psychology textbook.
Copyright Law

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution
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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
Copyright Act of 1790

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Applied to books, maps and charts
Term: 14 years (renewable for 14
years)
Copyright Act of 1976
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Applies to literary works, musical works,
dramatic works, pantomimes and
choreographic works, pictorial, graphic,
and sculptural works, motion pictures
and other audiovisual works, sound
recordings, and architectural works
Term: life of the author plus 50 years
Sonny Bono Copyright Term
Extension Act of 1998

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Extended the term of copyright
protection to life of the author plus 70
years
Added 20 years of protection to existing
works still protected by copyright
Eldred v. Ashcroft (2003)
Federal Copyright Interest


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Upon fixation in a tangible medium
No requirement to file
Owner has right to reproduce, sell, rent,
lease, lend, perform, display, prepare
derivative work
Subject to some limitations or
exceptions

“Fair use”
Fair Use

Section 107 of the Copyright Act

“[T]he fair use of a copyrighted work … for
purposes such as criticism, comment, news
reporting, teaching (including multiple
copies for classroom use), scholarship, or
research, is not an infringement of
copyright. In determining whether the use
made of a work in any particular case is a
fair use the factors to be considered shall
include—”
Fair Use Factors

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The purpose of the use, e.g., nonprofit
educational reasons
The nature of the copyrighted work
The amount and substantiality of the
portion used in relation to the whole
The effect of the use upon the potential
market for or value of the work
Zack

Zack buys a copy of the game WarCraft
III: Reign of Chaos for his computer.
He burns a copy of the CD containing
the game.
Backup Copy


Copyright law permits one backup copy
to be made for archival purposes
(Section 117 of the Copyright Act)
Can you give your friend the “backup
copy”?
License Agreement



When you “buy” a piece of software,
you actually purchase a license for its
use
Terms can vary greatly from one license
to another
Some permit installation on more than
one machine
Melanie

Melanie's father videotapes the movie
The Lion King from a channel on public
airwaves. Also, he borrows a friend's
Beauty and the Beast videotape, and
makes a copy of it on his dual cassette
video recorder.
Sony Betamax Case (1984)



In 1982 several movie and television
studios sued Sony to prevent its
manufacture and sale of the Betamax
video tape recorder
Mr. Rogers testified for the defense
Supreme Court held that “time-shifting”
was a legitimate, noninfringing fair use
Charlene

Charlene makes an audiocassette
recording of a radio broadcast of a
Norah Jones album.
Tough One


Harbinger of things to come
Transition from an analog to a digital
world
Bruce

Bruce buys a copy of the The Paul
Simon Collection CD, and makes an
audiocassette copy for his car and two
CD copies, one for his upstairs CD
player and one for his kitchen CD
player.
Audio Home Recording Act of
1992

Music industry successfully lobbied against
DATs

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perfect copies every time
Act provides quid pro quo

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industry gets Serial Copy Management System and
blank tape royalty scheme
consumers get right to make analog or digital
recordings for their private non-commercial use
(immune from infringement)
Jaime

Jaime downloads 23 Elliot Smith songs
on her computer in MP3 format. She
burns them onto a CD to listen to on
her portable CD player and in her car.
Digital Technology

Music industry rocked by:

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greater disk capacity
compression software (MP3 files)
Internet
RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia
(1999)
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The RIAA alleged that the Rio MP3
violated the AHRA of 1992
The court found that the Rio was not a
“digital audio recording device”
The court held that the Rio’s “spaceshifting” was entirely consistent with
the AHRA’s main purpose – the
facilitation of personal use
A&M Records v. Napster (2001)

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Enjoined Napster from facilitating the
distribution of copyrighted works
Rejected fair use defense

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not “time-shifting” or “space-shifting”
New peer-to-peer networks arise and
take its place, e.g., Kazaa, Limewire
Adam

Adam buys a copy of the Borat DVD.
He makes an extra copy of it, keeps the
copy for himself, and mails the original
home for his father.
Digital Millennium Copyright
Act of 1998

Criminal prohibition against
circumventing any technological
measure that controls access to a
copyrighted work

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DVDs contain such measure
some CDs now contain anti-copying code
Lessig – law regulates code; code
regulates law
Stacie
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For Stacie's twelfth grade project on
"Multimedia Today," she collects a
variety of text, art, photos, audio and
video from CDs, DVDs and the Web,
and compiles them onto a CD. She gets
an A+ on the project.
Stacie’s Future
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College?
Prison?