Copyright

= Copyright = toc Copyright law protects original works from being used without the permission of its creators. The law provides the copyright owners with exclusive permission to reproduce, create derivative works, distribute, perform or display publicly any works they have created. Ideas cannot be copyrighted only works that have been tangibly documented. In the case of a performance, a sound or video recording would need to be made; a dance or other visual performance would also need to be visually recorded or the steps or choreography noted in order to qualify for copyright protection. Currently, the copyright symbol does not need to appear on a document or recording to be covered by copyright protection. In 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was enacted to clarify copyright laws surrounding digital items. Copyright protection is not indefinite and once it runs out, the works in question become available for use in the Public Domain. Additionally, copyright law has several exceptions that fall under Fair Use.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act
The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law both to bring the United States into compliance with some international treaties, and to address some concerns regarding the use of technology to circumvent copyright law. The treaties addressed were the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. The DMCA also contains many of the laws and requirements for handling the technology issues surrounding copyright. It is this law that required VCRs to use macrovision technology to prevent duplication of commercial videocassettes. It also prevents private people from duplicating any item that has been encrypted. The DMCA also lays out exceptions to various rules and requirements for institutions such as non-profits, libraries and archives, and educational institutions such as colleges and universities. This Act is in addition to the standard U.S. copyright law and does not supplant the rules laid out there.

Public Domain
Once a work falls outside of the copyright period, it becomes a part of the Public Domain. Public Domain works are available for anyone to use in any way they want. Organizations such as Project Gutenberg and LibriVox use public domain works to create free digital books and free digital audio books respectively. Books that are in the Public Domain vary depending on the copyright laws of the country in which a user is living. Currently, in the United States, anything published prior to 1923 is in the public domain. Works published after 1923 may be in the public domain, if the work meets a variety of criteria. The University of California has posted the following requirements for determining public domain:
 * Works published in the U.S. between 1923 and 1978 without copyright notices are in the public domain.
 * Works published in the U.S. between 1978 and March 1, 1989 without a notice and without registration are in the public domain
 * Works published in the U.S. between 1923 and 1968 are in the public domain if the copyright was not renewed.

Copyright protection has been extended several times within the last 100 years. This is a concern, because it can be argued that longer copyrights stifle creativity. The most recent copyright extension in the United States is nicknamed the Mickey Mouse Act, because Disney initiated the push when it became concerned that Mickey, Donald, Pluto, and a number of other characters created in the late 1920’s would soon fall into the public domain.

Fair Use
Works that are still under copyright can be used without payment of royalties and without permission from the creator under the terms of Fair Use, if they meet specific criteria. According to Stanford University Library’s Fair Use and Copyright information, Fair Use generally falls into the categories of Commentary and Criticism, and Parody. If a work has not fallen out of copyright, and the use does not fall within these two categories, further research will need to be made to determine if the use is “fair.” If the determination is that the use does not fall under Fair Use, anyone wishing to use the work will need to contact the copyright holder for permission and to see about making any required royalty payments. Fair Use is a particularly difficult section of Copyright law to understand. Eric Faden of Bucknell University, created the following video entitled //A Fair(y) Use Tale// to illustrate Fair Use. media type="youtube" key="CJn_jC4FNDo" height="315" width="420" This video is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License