Creative Commons Essay

Protection of intellectual property are investments based on acquired knowledge, thought and effort by one or multiple individuals on behalf of themselves, the business they work for when the property is created, and a financial investment. Each of these – acquired knowledge, thought, physical effort, financial investment – have a value that can be attached as it relates the usefulness or importance of the resulting product. That value will have a level of importance to the individual(s) creating the product and if applicable, the investor providing the funds in support of the creation.

An Introduction to the Law and Economics of Intellectual Property Author(s): Stanley M. Besen and Leo J. Raskind Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Winter, 1991), pp. 3-27 Published by: American Economic Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1942699 . Accessed: 24/11/2011 08:39

Copyright is the legal right, to an inventor to perform, print, publish, film, or record artistic, literary, or musical material, and to allow others to do the same. Copyright law was developed to provide the creators and inventors of any works with powerful and effective rights of exclusivity over their creations (Patterson & Lindberg, 1991). Over the past, these rights were almost unlimited. People would use existing developments as if they were their own without any regard of the creator’s exclusive rights. The need to balance and limit such rights arose, and governments established these limits for the general good of the public.

Digital piracy on music has been a majorly disputed affair for the last eighteen years, about whether or not it favors the musical artists or affects them in a negative fashion. One of the many sides of the Digital piracy controversy expounds that it benefits the artist(s) by giving them a great deal of exposure that they may not have received had they not downloaded it for free, which in turn makes for a very significant acquisition in terms of sales on their part.

Take this copyright quiz as a pre-assessment before going any further to test your copyright IQ.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (n.d.) helps one understand the importance of protecting intellectual property. They have spelled out several reasons of this importance including inventing new works in technology and culture, which allows progress to be made that, can be utilized worldwide. In addition, the legal protection of intellectual property encourages the commitment of additional resources for further modernization. Finally, promoting and protecting intellectual property encourages economic growth. It creates new jobs and industries. Protecting intellectual property also enhances the quality and

Today's digital technology and the computer have changed how the average consumer can acquire information and entertainment. No longer do we have to wait for the CD to hear a new song, or the release date to watch a movie. The technology is available on our home computers. But is this an infringement on copyright? What about the rights of artists, authors, producers, or actors? Has our technology progressed so far that it infringes on these peoples' livings? It is only a matter of time before laws are passed regarding Internet use. Are we ready to give up the freedom we have had up to this point? In her essay "The Digital Rights War", Pamela Samuelson states that " The new future of technically protected

Thankfully, a solution called Creative Commons has been developed which addresses many of these issues in an effort to encourage new creative development through the open sharing of intellectual property. (Lessig)

Intellectual property is the main elements for economic growth and national competitiveness. President Obama mentioned that the United States of America must support intellectual property rights to be successful in an increasingly competitive international market which help the American people to meet their goals. It clearly shows that supporting of intellectual property by government completely related to economy because it has a direct relationship with innovation which is the main buddy in economy, and its benefits will effect to every single industries. In addition, Intellectual property is not just the final product of workers and companies but also it has positive effects to innovation of products, supplies, and commercial activities (U.S. Patent and Tred mark office 2012).

As technology advances so to do the laws and rules that help guide engineers and companies to behave in ways which are not only legal, but also fair to others. Millions of devices these days, large and small, have the ability to allow a user to view printed materials, listen to radio, and watch television. The rules that governed the printed format do not necessarily apply to the digital realm and not many lawmakers know where to apply them. The FCC has censorship over what may be broadcast however they have little control over what kind of content can be streamed over someone’s desktop computer. Copyright laws get brought into question in regards to being misused or being infringed upon. This has become an increasingly big problem since the

Music can possess a lasting power to influence the lives of listeners and inspire future works of art. Copyrights give artists and their production teams a monopoly over their intellectual creations insuring their compensation is relative to their audience’s appreciation of the work for a set period. The U.S. Copyright Law in it’s inception saw the value of limiting this monopoly in order to encourage innovation of creative works. Over the years, a complex system of royalty compensation developed based on these copyrights divvied amongst all players within the collaborative production of sound recordings. The invention of various technological mediums of sound distribution forces the music industry to adapt with new business models to

1. Introduction The history of copyright is one of entanglement. Prior to the first official copyright statute a printing guild known as the Stationers ' Company maintained monopoly power over printing and regulating books. Their monopoly power, granted by the Licensing of the Press Act 1662, was revoked in 1694 after the English Parliament refused to renew it in light

Nowadays, most of American institutions require the students to sign the plagiarism form before attending the class in order to prevent their students from taking somebody’s work without giving credits. I believe intellectual laws are as important as any other law because it defines the ethical aspect of the three core values of the United States of America liberty, freedom and democracy. Copyright law is an intellectual law that grants ownership to the author and protects the author from copyright infringement. This paper will discuss how copyright law was established, and how the establishment influences advertising. I begin by examining the history of copyright before it became a constitutional law. I will also explain why the copyright is protected under the First Amendment. After that, I will interpret some significant copyright acts that had been established since it first started, but my main focus will be on the role of ‘fair use’ in the Copyright Act of 1976, which set up the primary basis for the copyright laws in the United States. The investigation will demonstrate how ‘fair use’ relates to copyright matters in advertising, or “commercial speech”. The conclusion will emphasize the significance of ‘fair use’ in advertising.

Until the 1980s, it was difficult to copy creative works. Books were only printed and bound on paper, and music was stored on vinyl records. With the introduction of the digital age and the use of binary code to transmit information, it has suddenly become much easier to infringe on copyright laws (Ford, Adam, and C. Ames Cushman). For example, the website “Napster” was founded in 1999 as a music downloading website that expanded until it had 38 million users. Unfortunately, the website was not paying for the numerous copies of music it was allowing its users to download, so the Recording Industry Association of America sued Napster for $100,000 for each song and won. Napster was officially bankrupt and shut down by 2002, allowing the music industry to recover and make a deal with a fair, legal website known as iTunes (Choate 275). Although the obvious reasons for not participating in piracy or copyright infringements are that laws state that these acts are illegal, there are additional reasons. In a world where information is increasingly available online, intellectual property must be protected by restricting piracy and illegal copying in order to ensure the livelihoods of content creators, encourage creative thinking, and preserve the United State’s national security and technological prowess.

The purpose of the copyright system has always been to promote creativity in society and protect the creator’s interests. In applying copyright laws to any creation, three basic guidelines apply. First is the fair return for a creator’s labor, second is “Fair Use” of the creator’s labor and finally the Progress of Science and useful Arts to further the public good. The application of these three guidelines in litigation for A&M Records, Inc. vs. Napster, found that the rights of reproduction, and distribution had been violated, in effect upholding the copyrights’ of nineteen different music companies represented under A&M Records name, this ruling had protected the music industries interests. However it would seem that the publishing industry would not be so lucky, litigation in Authors’ Guild vs. Google ruled that Google’s actions constituted fair use. Under these two scenarios’ the copyright laws’ have, effectively, protected the rights of music artists’, protected the public’s right to “fair use” and sparked new opportunities for creative growth. However, lawmakers continue to struggle to define copyright boundaries between the public’s right of use and the creator’s right to profit from their efforts.