WWW: Beyond the Basics

9. Intellectual Property on the WWW

9.2 Copyright Basics

9.2.1 History

The founding fathers of the United States of America had intellectual property in mind when they wrote in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution "The Congress shall have the Power... to promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Rights to their respective Writings and Discoveries." It was left to Congress to develop this in detail. In 1789, the first bill relating to copyright was presented to Congress and in 1790 the first law was put in place. This law went through a series of revisions adding music, art and certain unpublished works to the list of protected works of authorship.

Eventually Congress produced four components of Intellectual Property: Copyright, Trademark, Patents, and Trade Secrets. From the time the first law was accepted until present day, copyright law has been constantly amended and changed. More recent revisions include the 1976 Copyright Act which is the last major revision of copyright law. This act made the fourth generation of copyright law. In 1980, computer programs became protected works and in 1984, Congress enacted the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act. The United States became a member of the Berne Convention in 1989 which brought protection for all copyrights in the countries that were also members of the convention. The Computer Software Rental Amendment Act of 1990 gave software owners the right to control the rental and lending of their software. And finally there was the NII Copyright Protection Act of 1995 which will be discussed in detail later in the chapter.

Copyright law has undergone many changes and additions. This section will certainly need to be expanded in the future. Exactly what will happen is unclear but only technology will tell.

9.2.2 Copyright Components

Each of the four components developed by Congress protects different types of intellectual property. A copyright protects literary works, art, music and items of a similar nature that are produced by authors and artists. Trademarks are symbols that help protect an object against mistaken identity. For example, the golden arches are a trademark of McDonald's not Burger King. Patents are usually obtained by inventors who desire protection for an invention or process. And trade secrets are simply the secrecy of a process, recipe, or any item that is to remain a secret. The recipe for Coca Cola Classic is a trade secret.

Copyrights will be the main focus for this chapter because the WWW has had the biggest impact on this component of intellectual property as compared to the other three. A copyright begins on any work the minute that work is placed on a fixed medium. A fixed medium ranges from paper to audio or video tapes to CD-ROM. As soon as the work is recorded, the author owns a copyright and has the ability to reserve the rights of that ownership. There are, however, three basic requirements that a new work must meet in order to have a copyright. First, the work must be original. An author must produce something original, not copied or derived from some other work. Secondly, the work must also be creative. There is no strict definition for the word creativity, however, the work must be in some sense creative. And finally, the work must be on a fixed medium such as the ones described.

It is not required, but almost necessary for an owner of a copyright to give notice of the copyright on the work. There are three parts of a notice of copyright; 1) the symbol, word or abbreviation of copyright, 2) the first year the work was distributed and 3) the name of the copyright owner. For Example: Copyright © 1996 Kelly R. Hanood. In order to signify clearly to the public that your work is protected, the piece should contain notification. Otherwise, it may be forgotten that a copyright exists.

9.2.3 Exclusive Rights

Once a work meets the three basic requirements the owner has the right to reserve five exclusive rights. These rights are: the right to reproduce the work or make copies; the right distribute the work to the public; the right to modify the work or make derivative works; the right to perform the work in public; and the right to display a piece in public.

Despite the exclusive rights of a copyright the public has the ability to reproduce a work for certain reasons. "Fair Use" allows a person to make a copy of a work for the purpose of criticism, news reporting, research and others. If the copy is for personal, non-commercial use the person who made the copy is not violating the copyright. In the circumstance of teaching or education, multiple (more than one) copies are allowed. There are certain items that are not protected by a copyright. The copyright on a work does not cover the title, ideas or concepts. A copyright also does not cover names, slogans, coloring, lettering, and speeches or performances not recorded in some way.

There are many sites on the Web that explain copyright law in more detail. This chapter is not meant to teach copyright law but to give an overview so that the reader will have a base of copyright knowledge to take with them as they read the following sections of this chapter.

References

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Copyright © 1996 Kelly R. Hanood

Kelly Hanood <hanood@simon.cs.vt.edu>
27 October 1996