Intellectual Property

Patents• Machines or processes

• Designs

• Artificially Produced Plants

Trademarks

• Words

• Logos/Symbols

• Devices

Copyright

Constitution gives Congress the power “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”

Sources of Copyright Law

• 1976 Copyright Act

• Berne Convention

• Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998

• 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA)

CopyrightProtects “works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium”

Must be sufficiently permanent to allow perception, reproduction, etc.

Not protected: off-the-cuff speech, improvised skit (if not recorded)

What Can Be ProtectedLiterary works, musical works, dramatic works, pantomimes and choreographic works, pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, motion pictures and other audiovisual works, sound recordings, architectural works

Requirements• Fixed in a tangible medium• Must owe origin to the author• Must be intellectual work involved in its

creation• Must be “creative” and “novel”• Transcriptions not copyrightable• Facts/ideas not copyrightable• Slogans, titles (trademark)• Sporting events not copyrightable (but

coverage is)• Compilations not copyrightable

• Unless there is creativity involved

Rights of the Copyright Holder

• (Works for hire normally owned by employer)

• Can reproduce in any form for any reason (or not)

• Create derivative works• Distribute/perform/display• Others must get permission

Is Copyright Too Protective?

Economic v. Cultural tension . . .

SCOTUS has called copyright “the engine of free expression,” but critics say it is in many cases too protected.

Copyright © 2012 James C. Foust

Copyright (c) 2012 James C. Foust

Copyright

Music—compulsory licensing

Digital Music

Sampling

Fair UseHow to tell?

• Purpose and character of the use

• Nature of the copyrighted work

• Amount of the work used

• Effect of use on market