Transcript Introduction to the Law

Jody Blanke, Professor
Computer Information Systems and Law
Mercer University, Atlanta
Ilani
 Ilani, Rachael and Melissa chip in to buy a copy of
Stieg Larsson’s novel, The Girl Who Kicked the
Hornet’s Nest. 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 photocopy. 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
 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
 Applied to books, maps and charts
 Term: 14 years (renewable for 14 years)
Copyright Act of 1976
 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
 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
 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
 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 FIFA 11 Soccer 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 Lilo and Stitch 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
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music
(1994)
 2 Live Crew recorded a satirical version of Roy
Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman”
 Supreme Court held that it was a fair use
 The Court focused on the song’s “transformative”
character
 the parody was not a substitute for the original
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
(AHRA)
 Music industry successfully lobbied against DATs
 perfect copies every time
 Act provides quid pro quo
 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)
Digital Technology in the 1990s
 Music industry rocked by:
 greater disk capacity
 compression software (MP3 files)
 Internet
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.
RIAA v. Diamond Multimedia (1999)
 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 “space-shifting” was
entirely consistent with the AHRA’s main purpose –
the facilitation of personal use
A&M Records v. Napster (2001)
 Enjoined Napster from facilitating the distribution of
copyrighted works
 Rejected fair use defense
 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 Inglourious Basterds 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
 DVDs contain such measure
 some CDs now contain anti-copying code
Stacie
 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
 College?
 Prison?