Ownership and Infringement of Copyrights
Introduction:
Definition and understanding of Copyrights:
The legal right that is created by enforcement of law by a country that provides the creator of an original exclusive work rights to use and distribute it, usually for a limited time with the aim of enabling the initiator to get compensation for their intellect work is known as copyright.
It is a structure of intellectual property such as trademark, a patent or trade secret etc which is relevant to any form of expressible idea or information that is distinct and important. Copyrights may be used as shared rights in which more than one person can share the rights of particular patent or trade secret; people may hold a defined percentage of rights so they are commonly known as “rightsholders” or “rights” in business terminology. The rightsholder have the right to copy, they may also be accredited for the work, and they may decide who may adapt the work to other forms or who may get financial benefits from it and other related rights.
Copyrights were primarily framed as a method for government to confine printing. The existing intent of copyright is to promote the foundation of new works by giving authors and trade person to have control of and profit from them.
Copyrights are meant to be defensive and territorial, which means that they do not extend outside the territory of the specific state or boundary unless that state is a party to an international agreement and laws. In
This exclusive legal right that is given to the original artist to print, perform film, publish or record literary and authorize others to do so for their material. This protects a physical expression of ideas , for example someone has an idea to write a book the content that is written in that book is covered by the copyright act as it will be unique to the creator. You do not need to register or claim copyright, this protection is automatic as soon as it is created. If someone steals information or wrongly sells other work or creation for their own financial benefit then this copy right act will protect the original creator and he can claim back the money that has been gained by the person who has taken the material without permission. This protects security and the use of private data as it does not allow anyone to take data or material without the author permission, if this does happen the user who has taken this material can be fined and prosecuted as the products does not belong to them, the author can also decide how his material has been used and if someone breaks his restriction they can also be prosecuted.
One of the most common, yet controversial, issues of First Amendment law is the subject of copyright and infringement. Although the subject may not seem major at first, many different issues and controversies have risen and become more common than ever over the years. The issues that have become pertinent to this subject are endless, including trademark infringement, piracy, theft, fraud, plagiarism, and many more. With the coming of age and advancement of technology, these cases have become more common and appear more often than ever before. Government officials have always been strict about copyright rulings, and have tried to deliver fair and just rulings for both parties involved under First Amendment rules. Because the owner’s work and material is protected under the First Amendment, it gets tricky when involving another party that can claim the same work of art. In short, the definition of copyright has always been cut and dry: allowing owners of creative works the right to control and profit from their creations. It is basically recognized as a form of property ownership.
For example, the histories of folk music and the blues reveal that there has always been theft. Once the artist work is produced, it is in the public domain, and hence, copyright claim does not hold, since when it comes to cultural influences, ownership is considered as the point of fools.
The creators of works protected by copyright, and their successors (generally referred to as “right holders”), have certain basic rights under copyright law. They hold the exclusive right to use or authorize others to use the work on agreed terms. The right holder of a work can authorize or prohibit: its reproduction in all forms, including print form and sound recording, its public performance and communication to the public, its broadcasting, its translation into other languages, and its adaptation, such as from a novel to a screenplay for a film. Similar rights that the right holders may hold are: fixation (recording) and reproduction are granted under related rights. Many types of works protected under the laws of copyright and related rights require mass distribution, communication and financial investment for their successful disseminations (for example, publications, sound recordings and films). Hence, creators often transfer these rights to companies better able to develop and market the works, in return for compensation in the form of payments and/or royalties (compensation based on a percentage of revenues generated by the work). The economic rights relating to copyrights are of limited duration as provided for in the relevant World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties beginning with the creation and fixation of the work, and lasting for at least 50 years after the creator’s death. National laws may establish longer terms
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.
One needs to have a basic understanding of the purpose behind copyright laws as the founding fathers had intended. As stated in the “Constitution. Article I, section 8, clause 8 of the United States Constitution provides that Congress shall have the
1: A copyright is a form of protection given to authors or creators of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and other intellectual works.
In 1909, the United States government passed a measure that would allow individuals to make a legal claim over their own intellectual property. Meaning that individuals who own intellectual property, which is considered works, are given exclusive rights to the materials they produce. Copyright law has been creates an environment that owners of the materials or works grant others who do not own that work permission to use it for their own needs (Copyright, n.d.). The intent of Title 17 the Copyright law, is that even though an owner has rights over their work, in some specific instance a non-owner may be able to copy, repeat, or use material that is not their own. This action is called fair use; which is found in Section 107 of Title 17.
I learned from John that if one has a copyright, that means they own the right to produce whatever is copyrighted. Further, that person has the right to create derivative works of the copyright and control who makes derivative works as well. An example of a derivative work would be when someone makes a movie based off of a novel. Also, the person with the copyright has the power to distribute copies, transfer ownership, and decide who can perform or display the work in public. John also explained that the ownership of a copyright lasts a total of seven years, and after that, a copyright without ownership is called a public domain. That means it is free to use in the public world.
The term “Intellectual property” is the ideas, words and the contexts created by someone that becomes that personal belong. Where “plagiarism” is claiming someone’s work or ideas as your own without giving appropriate acknowledgement to the author’s work (page. 225).
1."Copyright law offers copyright holders the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, and publicly perform copyrighted work" (Carnes). The copyright holder has the authority to govern how the copyrighted material is distributed by giving specific permissions in writing. Without a specific written permission, no one has the rights to distribute or sell the copyrighted work.
Intellectual property represents ideas created by minds of humans that require certain rights for their use. Intellectual property gives companies a competitive advantage and attracts the attention of other business partners and investors (Lee, 2016). With such importance, it is necessary for the law to protect these ideas from being used by unauthorized individuals. To shield from this, trade secrets, patents, and copyrights are used to protect the ownership of intellectual property (Legal Information Institute).
Many infringement claims involve simple cases of copyright infringement where the copying is obvious. Others, however, are more difficult to resolve because copyright protection is not limited to exact copying. It is inevitable that creative and commercial works will take inspiration from the culture at large, and it is often challenging to determine when this "inspiration" has crossed the line into infringement. There also may be a question of whether the allegedly infringed work is even protected by copyright. Unprotected works may include, for example, compilations of facts that lack the requisite creativity to be covered by copyright, or those works that are in the public domain because the copyright term expired.
Copyright laws were established to protect the original work of individuals since 1709. At present only two acts are in effect today, the copyright Act of 1909 and 1976. (United States Copyright Laws) These works protect the individuals work but not the idea. With the digital age copyright laws are not adapt to protect these rights. With the vast amount of information that is available digital copyright infringement takes place almost on an hourly
Firstly, with laws to protect intellectual properties, it prevent and stop other companies from commercially using the protected intellectual properties in the marketplace, allowing the owner company to control the usage of their original