copyrights - SlideFinder - PowerPoint search engine with thumbnail results
Copyright 2009 S. Brown COPYRIGHT BASICS
Institute for Intellectual Property & Information Law
Univ. of Houston Law Center
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Weatherford International Ltd.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Copyright Basics:
A. Cultural and Constitutional Basis
B. Requirements
- Subject Matter
- Ownership
- Duration
- Notice and Publication
- Registration
C. Idea vs. Expression
D. Rights and Limitations
E. Infringement, Damages
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Before we get started…
Four basic Intellectual Property Rights:
Patents
Trade Marks
Trade Secrets
Copyrights
Be sure to know the differences!
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Patents:
Federal Governmental grant of the right to exclude others from making, selling and using the claimed product or method.
Ex. tools, devices, systems, methods
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Trade Marks:
Gives the owner the right to protect brand names, symbols and words from competing use by others.
Ex. name of products, services, teams, etc.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Trade Secrets:
State law protects the owner’s rights to prevent others from accessing and using business sensitive confidential information.
Ex.: business plans, computer codes, formulas
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Copyrights:
Copyright Law: protects “original works of authorship” – gives exclusive rights to: reproduce (i.e., “copy”), prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, and display the copyrighted work.
Examples: books, training materials, drawings, software, etc.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Cultural Basis:
- One who creates something ought to own that something, and ought to be able to profit from that something.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Cultural Basis (cont.):
One who owns something ought to be able to do anything he/she wants to do that something!
Tension between…
INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM vs. RIGHTS OF AUTHORS
Copyright 2009 S. Brown United States Constitution (1789)
Article 1, Section 8:
[Congress shall have 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;
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Constitutional Basis (cont.):
Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833)
“It was beneficial to all parties, that the national government should possess this power; to authors and inventors, because, otherwise, they would have been subjected to the varying laws and systems of the different states on this subject, which would impair, and might even destroy the value of their rights; to the public, as it would promote the progress of science and the useful arts, and admit the people at large, after a short interval, to the full possession and enjoyment of all writings and inventions without restraint.” IP is a useful public policy tool; best left to Federal Govt.
“In short, the only boon, which could be offered to inventors to disclose the secrets of their discoveries, would be the exclusive right and profit of them, as a monopoly for a limited period.” Better to patent inventions than to keep them secret.
“And authors would have little inducement to prepare elaborate works for the public, if their publication was to be at a large expense, and, as soon as they were published, there would be an unlimited right of depredation and piracy of their copyright.” Copyrights support the production and distribution of works.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Constitutional Concepts:
- Something created.
- Limited time.
- Exclude others.
Embodied in:
Title 17 United States Code
Sections 101 et seq.
http://uscode.house.gov/download/title_17.shtml
Copyright 2009 S. Brown § 102. Subject matter of copyright:
(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Requirements:
Original
- not stolen or copied from another
Authorship
- something must have been created
Fixed
- not just an idea, but tangible
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Works subject to Copyright protection:
1. literary works
2. musical works, including any accompanying words
3. dramatic works, including any accompanying music
4. pantomimes and choreographic works
5. pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
6. motion pictures and other audiovisual works
7. sound recordings
8. architectural works
These categories should be viewed broadly. For example, computer programs and most “compilations” may be registered as “literary works”; maps and architectural plans may be registered as pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Works not subject to Copyright:
1. Words and short phrases such as names, titles, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring; mere listing of ingredients or contents;
2. Ideas, plans, methods, systems, or devices, as distinguished from the particular manner in which they are expressed or described in a writing;
3. Blank forms, such as time cards, graph paper, account books, diaries, bank checks, scorecards, address books, report forms, order forms and the like, which are designed for recording information and do not in themselves convey information;
4. Works consisting entirely of information that is common property containing no original authorship, such as, for example: Standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, schedules of sporting events, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources.
5. Typeface as typeface.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Company, Inc.
U.S. Supreme Court – 1991
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Company, Inc.
U.S. Supreme Court – 1991
Compilations and databases are protected by copyright only when they are arranged and selected in an original manner.
Although the level of originality needed is not very high, the white pages of phone books are not protectable because the selection of the data (all customers in a geographic area) and the arrangement of the data (in alphabetical order) were not sufficiently original as to come under the protection of the Copyright Act.
Competing telephone directory publisher was allowed to extract all of the data from the white pages without liability for copyright infringement.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown Work must be “FIXED”:
§101 - A work is “fixed” in a tangible medium of expression when its embodiment in a copy or phonorecord, by or under the authority of the author, is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration. A work consisting of sounds, images, or both, that are being transmitted, is “fixed” for purposes of this title if a fixation of the work is being made simultaneously with its transmission.
Copyright 2009 S. Brown White-Smith Music Publishing Company v. Apollo Company
(US Supreme Court - 1908)
Comments