Jody Blanke, Professor Computer Information Systems and Law Mercer University, Atlanta 1

Ilani Ilani, Rachael and Melissa chip in to buy a copy of Stieg Larsson’s novel, The Girl Who Played With Fire. 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. 2

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 3

Copyright Act of 1790 Applied to books, maps and charts Term: 14 years (renewable for 14 years) 4

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 5

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) 6

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” 7

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—” 8

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 9

Zack Zack buys a copy of the game FIFA 10 Soccer for his computer. He burns a copy of the CD containing the game. 10

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”? 11

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 12

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. 13

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 14