Copyright Flashcards
What is intellectual property rights?
A collection of rights that includes copyright among other rights such as patents, trademarks and licensing.
What is Copyright?
Copyright refers to the rights of authors in works of authorship.
What are patents, trademarks and trade secrets
Patents - subject matter is inventions
Trademarks - which concern symbols of an enterprise’s reputation and goodwill
Trade Secrets - information whose value derives from being kept secret
What does Copyright protect?
Copyright protects the expression in a work of authorship against copying. Copyright law does not protect the underlying ideas embodied in a work; neither does it protect against independent development.
How do you obtain a Copyright?
The copyrights in any original
work of authorship come into existence automatically, as soon as the work has been created.
(Registration of a Copyright is not required to protect a work
against copyright infringement (Use without permission))
What is required for a work to afford copyright? (2)
- Must be an expression of an
idea (meaning it must have
been expressed and cannot
be simply an idea itself) - Have some amount of
authorship (i.e., not a copy
of something else)
Explain the fixation requirement of copyright.
Work must be committed to a tangible medium. This does not mean it must be the final version of the work.
eg. A draft of a novel on paper, the “rushes” from a film before editing, the beta version of a computer program, etc
What are a copyright holder’s exclusive rights? (4)
- The right to perform or display it publicly.
- The right to create an offshoot or sequel (called a derivative work).
- The right to copy it.
- The right to distribute copies of it.
What does copyright not protect against?
- Copyright does not protect against independent development, only against copying. Thus, if you and I each independently write
identical sonnets, without any copying, each of us owns a copyright in our own work notwithstanding who came first or that the
works are the same. - Copyright does not protect ideas, only the way the ideas are expressed
- Copyright does not protect individual words and short phrases.
- Copyright does not protect procedures, processes, systems, concepts or methods of operation that are embodied in works; only the
particular way they are expressed.
Name the two basic kinds of copyright in music.
- Compositional
- Sound Recording
What happens to the copyright if someone is hired to create something?
The copyrights are owned by whoever created the work regardless of employment.
What happens to copyright when two people create something together?
Unless they contract otherwise, each has the power to exploit the work (and each may license third
parties’ use of the work) without the permission of the other joint owner, subject only to an obligation
such as a contract to account to the other party for profits.
What is licensing regarding copyright?
When a copyright owner gives permission to a particular party to use the copyrighted work for a specific reason.
What is copyright infringement?
The unauthorized exercise by a third party of any of the exclusive rights of copyright holders, such as copying, is
copyright infringement.
Name the four factors
to decide whether a particular
use is fair.
- Purpose & character of use
- Nature of copyrighted work (copying of factual works is
more likely to be deemed fair use than copying of creative or fictional works) - Amount and substantiality of what was taken
- Effect on the potential market value of the copyrighted work.
