COPYRIGHT LAW By Hannah Cooper - Woolley

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT? “Copyright is legal right that protects the use of your work once your idea has been physically expressed. The current copyright legislation in the UK is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988” date accessed 17/01/15 Copyright is the given right of ownership that the creator of something has over their own work. This is why when using someone else’s work we must ask for permission or cite the owner when using their work. This can be done by providing a link of where you got the information and or work from, giving credit to the owner. When someone copies someone else’s work without giving them the proper credit this is considered ‘Plagiarism’, this often occurs when people ‘copy and paste’ other peoples work and try to pass it off as their own. There are many ways of preventing your work from being stolen, however they are not ‘fool proof’ methods as there is often ways around it. A common example of this is applying a hallmark or watermark over the top of your work.

WHEN IS MY WORK PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT? “For your work to be protected by copyright law it needs to be original and tangible. Original: For a work to be original it must be the product of your own skill and labour or intellectual creation and should not just replicate the work of someone else (such as imitating a drawing or a painting). This is to prevent simple things like writing a poem consisting of a single word being automatically protected by copyright. Otherwise, being creative in daily life would be impossible without stumbling into someone else's copyright. Tangible: This means that it can’t just be an idea you've had. Instead you need to have expressed that idea in a physical form. When you make up a tune in your head, it is only protected by copyright from the moment you write down the musical score or record a performance of it.” - Date accessed 17/01/15

COPYRIGHT LAW al/2copyrightrev1.shtmlhttp:// al/2copyrightrev1.shtml - Date accessed 17/01/15

HOW DO YOU COPYRIGHT WORK? “Copyright protection arises automatically as soon as your work is created. Unlike a patent or trademark, you don’t need to register your work to ensure your rights are protected by copyright.” - Date accessed 17/01/15 However in some cases Copyright law my not be best suited to protect specific forms of creative work. In these instances there is a different form of protection for your work this is called Intellectual Property (IP) protection.

HOW EASY IS IT TO PLAGIARISE? Unfortunately it is far easier to plagiarise someone else’s work than to create your own. It is very simple to ‘copy and paste’ work found on the internet and if it is not properly cited then that work becomes plagiarised. An example of music plagiarism or theft are all the websites that allow you to download music for free from websites like YouTube. An example of this is a website called YouTube-Mp3 - This site allows users to download music for free. Survey: I asked 5 of my classmates some questions 1. Have you every downloaded music from one of these sites – 5/5 said yes 2. Have you ever heard of ‘YouTube-Mp3’? – 4/5 said yes 3. Have you ever used ‘YouTube-Mp3’? – 3/5 said yes 4. Would you ever use this site or others like it again? – 4/5 said yes

CASE STUDIES Over the years there have been many famous plagiarism cases and infringements of copyright laws in the music and media industry. - Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" vs. The Beatles' "Come Together” - Huey Lewis and the News' "I Want a New Drug" vs. Ray Parker, Jr.'s 'Ghostbusters' Theme -The Rubinoos' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" vs. Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend“ - Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly" vs. Coldplay's "Viva La Vida“ All these cases are examples or lawsuits that took place due to copy right infringements “In 2008, instrumental guitarist Joe Satriani sued Coldplay, claiming that the latter's "Viva La Vida" used "substantial original portions" of his 2004 song "If I Could Fly." Coldplay said that any similarities were "entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him." Satriani would later settle with the group for an undisclosed amount, though Coldplay did not have to admit any wrongdoing.” - Accessed 21/01/15

THE RUBINOOS' VS. AVRIL LAVIGNE Avril Lavigne was sued for plagiarism and copyright infringments after the 2007 hit song ‘Girlfriend’ was claimed to bare striking resemblance to The Rubinoos song ‘I want to be your boyfriend’ After the 70’s bands founder Tommy Dunbar filed the suit against Lavigne, her and her manager were quick to take to the press and assure fans that no crime had been commited and that the song bore no similarities to each other. “Lavigne's manager told Billboard that the suit "has no basis. There's nothing similar [between the two songs]. Our musicologist says there is no similarities of melody, choral progression or meter" Avril then went on to claim that she " had never heard this song in my life " and " all songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language." However in the end Avril Lavigne and her team eventually settled on an “undisclosed settlement” with the apposing group. Date accessed – 21/01/15 w=1366&bih=616&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&v ed=0ahUKEwj595aip- 3KAhWJSBQKHQoxDXQQ_AUIBigB#q=avril+lavign e&tbm=isch&tbs=ic:trans&imgrc=wocQzNhnDxIEPM% 3A Date accessed 21/01/15

EVALUATION For this task I used both Primary and Secondary research. The information I have used in this task was in part gathered from sources I found on the internet as well as information learned in class. I also used quantitive research methods to gather information, this was my questionnaire which I used to find out If my class mate new about and/or had been using music plagiarism sites. I enjoyed this task as it helped me understand the rules and regulations pertaining to copyright, which I previously was unaware of in its entirety. It also helped me to understand how to properly cite the information and/or images I use.