A.    History of Copyright

1.    1557 Queen Mary announced a printers monopoly to the London Stationers' Company (guild) -- to printers not authors

2.    1710 Statute of Anne adopted by Parliament ending the chaos following the expiration of the Stationers monopoly.

3.    In 1774 the House of Lords interpreted the Statute of Anne to grant the right to AUTHORS!!  for a limited time (14 years + 14 years renewal)

4.    The US the constitution maded copyright a matter for Congress to decide.  Article 1 concerning the powers of Congress - "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."

In Wheaton v Peters (1834) SCOTUS ruled that common law and English law interpretations don't apply in US.

5.  The original U.S. (1790) copyright act allowed terms of 14 + 14 years.

6.    In the revision of the Copyright Act of 1976 term of protection is life of the author plus 50 years.  Work for hire is 75 years.

7.    Under the "Bono Act"  the term of copyright was extended by 20 years in both categories.  This law was found constitutional in Eldred v. Ashcroft (2002)

 

B.    Rights Copyright Gives the Owner.  (Initially, rights belong to the author/creator until these rights are contracted away)

1.    reproduction of the original

2.    production of derivative works

3.    distribution of copies for sale or lease

4.    public performance

5.    or public display

 

C.    What can and can't be copyrighted?

1.    Protection is automatic even without registration when the material is "fixed in tangible form."

2.    One can't copyright:

a.     Un-fixed expression such as improvised speeches (not recorded)

b.     Titles, names, short phrases, typography

c.     Ideas, procedures, etc.

d.     Works entirely of common property types of information (e.g. calendars, rulers, etc.) involving no original work.

D.    Fair use is provided for in the law.  Fair use" means one can make use of copyrighted material without obtaining permission or paying fees. 

Tests of what is fair use:   (These tests are parts of a whole and must be considered together.)

1.    purpose and character of use (Commercial use --NO!  Educational/non-profit for criticism, scholarship, teaching, news reporting, etc. is more likely fair use.)

2.    the nature of the material - dictionaries, and other reference works invite more fair use than other matters.   Music, poems, unpublished letters get more protection.

3.    the amount of the work used.  (No firm rules exist but a sense of proportionality is considered, say 50-150 words for articles, 100-400 words for books is a guideline, even one line of a song or poem is probably not ok, or any tables, graphs, etc.)

4.    effect of the use on potential market or value of the work.  If you reduce the market value of a work by iyour use of the material, that is not likely "fair use."

 

E.    Key Cases

1.    Sony v Universal City Studios (1984) - recording off-air for personal use is generally fair use.

2.  Harper & Row v The Nation 1985 - pre-publication paraphrase and quoting of G. Ford's memoirs was NOT fair use (hurt the market)

3.    Salinger v Random House 1987 2nd circuit.  J.D. Salinger's unpublished letters could not be quoted in an unauthorized bio although summaries in the biographers own words could be used to make points.

4.  Basic Books v Kinko's 1991 - ed. copying OK if one copy is made (as in on reserve) or spontaneous multiple copies (but not part of the syllabus)

5.  Campbell v Acuff-Rose (1994) 2 Live Crew parody of "Pretty Woman" deemed fair use in spite of the commercial nature of the recording.  Parody is protected.  See an interesting variation on the parody issue in Suntrust Bank v. Houghton Mifflin (2001) concerning a parody of Gone with the Wind (see Tedford's 2002 update).