 Copyright, Fair Use, Permissions & Culture April 10, 2012

Part 1: Copyright  Copyright is a legal device that gives a text’s creator the right to control how that text—any work that conveys ideas or information—can be used.  The point of copyright is to give an author control over how their texts are used. Once a text is copyrighted, authors then are the only ones who can legally distribute and/or sell their work (in short, the only ones who should be able to profit off of it).

Part 1: Copyright  The moment you fix an original creative idea into a text, you immediately have copyright over that text.  Though, keep in mind at some workplaces the work you create while there actually is copyrighted by your employer, not by you

Part 1: Copyright  For works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.  For an anonymous work or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first.  For works first published prior to 1978, the term will vary depending on several factors.

Part 1: Copyright In order for something to be copyrighted, the United States Copyright Office demands the work meet the following criteria:  Fixity. The work needs to be able to be stored in some way. A random utterance that nobody recorded cannot be copyrighted; but, once it’s written down or videotaped, it can be.  Originality. It’s not as simple as it sounds, as the work does not need to be completely original and can be an adaption or transformation of a previous work.  Minimal Creativity. This is a subjective category, but for the most part anything that includes some slight creativity will be eligible for copyright protection.

Part 2: Fair Use  While copyright law does protect an author’s work in many ways, the Fair Use Doctrine limits the author’s total control.  The idea is that there are certain ways texts can be used that are “fair” and shouldn’t require payment to, or permission from, the author.

Part 2: Fair Use There are four factors an individual must weigh when wanting to use a copyrighted text.  The nature of the copyrighted work. Is it factual? Has it been published? Fair use favors factual published works over unpublished works or forms of artistic expression.  The market effect of the use. Will the new use of the text be available to a small group of people for a limited time? The broader the distribution, the less likely Fair Use will come into effect.  The purpose of use. It is being used for nonprofit or education purposes? Is it being used for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research?  The amount of the work used. The smaller the portion of the text, the more likely it is to be protected.

 Music & Video: 10% or 30 seconds of a song, or 10% or 3 minutes of a video (whichever is less) are generally allowable under the Fair Use Doctrine.

Part 3: Permissions  Legally speaking, you only need to get permission from the copyright holder if you want to use the work for commercial purposes, to use the materials more than once, or if you want to use a large portion of the work (especially when it is longer than 2,500 words and/or if you want to use more than 10% of the entire work).

Part 3: Permissions  To get Permissions, you must contact the copyright holder directly and ask for a written description of the use they will allow.

Part 4: Culture  Daphne Keller in “The Musician As Thief” asks: “should digital technologies change lawmakers’ empirical predictions about cultural production? Does a change in technology produce a change in how we make culture? And, if we are making culture differently now, how should the law respond?  McLuhan says YES, technology changes culture. Agree?

Part 4: Culture  Lawrence Lessig says, “yes.”  Watch: angling_creativity.html angling_creativity.html  Tweet if you want.