Copyright in the US
Paula Kaufman
University of Illinois
March 6, 2000
OBJECTIVES
- Quick overview of copyright
- New and pending legislation nationally and globally
- Impact on libraries
WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?
- Derived from English law
- Constitutional Right: "To promote the progress of science and the useful arts"
- Protects original works of authorship
- Protects original works of authorship
- Applies to both published and unpublished works fixed in a tangible medium of expression
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS
- To perform the work publicly
- To distribute copies by sale or other transfer of ownership
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO OWNER
- To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords
- To prepare derivative rights based upon the work
NON-EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS
- Rights are not entirely unlimited in scope
- Buyers and users of copyrighted works also have some rights
- Framers were careful to maintain balance between rights of owners and users
WHAT’S NOT PROTECTED
- Works consisting of information containing no original authorship
- Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, discoveries or devices as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration
- Works not fixed in a tangible form of expression
- Titles, names, slogans, familiar symbols
- Works produced by the government and its employees
RIGHT OF FAIR USE
- Basis for making single copies for scholarly use
- Not yet tested in the courts
FAIR USE
- Purpose of the use
- Nature of the work
- Amount of work used
- Economic impact on market value of work used
RIGHT OF FIRST SALE
- Can lend or resell
- Permits libraries to lend their collections
- Threatened by pending legislation
OTHER LIBRARY RIGHTS
- Negotiated through subsequent interpretations and agreements
- Interlibrary Loan
- Library Reserves
- New - archiving digital works
DOES COPYRIGHT APPLY TO THE WEB?
NEW AND PENDING LEGISLATION
- Digital Millenium Copyright Act - DMCA
- Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act
- Data Base Protection Legislation
- Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act -- UCITA
DMCA IMPACT
- Library exemption for digital archiving and preservation
- OSP Limitation of Liability -- should library assert status as "Service Provider?"
- Distance Ed challenges
- Anti-circumvention rules:
- Illegal merely to access copyrighted material by circumventing copy-protection measures
- likely ensures more works come with licenses
- could lead to privacy issues
DISTANCE EDUCATION
- DMCA directed study to see if exemption for distance education through interactive digital networks is needed
DISTANCE ED FINDINGS
- Problems with licensing (unreasonable costs, tardy responses, or hard to locate copyright owners)
- Current Copyright Law does not adequately or fully address the needs of distance ed or content owners
COPYRIGHT TERM EXTENSION
- Extends term twenty years
- Exception permits libraries to continue to freely use old works in the last twenty years of the extended term
DATABASE PROTECTION ACT
- Some WIPO pressures
- Creates copyright-like regime on non-copyrightable materials
- Compromises fair use and right of first sale
- Threatens to drive up prices and reduce access
UCITA
- New commercial law for the information economy - consistency at state levels (Passed in Virginia in February)
- Enforces broad use of shrink-wrap and click-on licenses
- Includes everything from copyrighted expression (stories, computer programs, images) to online databases and interactive games
- Shift in power between copyright law and contract/license law
- Undermines public policy of making information available to the public
- Scope too broad -- enables mass-market licensing of books
- Enables new constraints on public domain information and materials
WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
- Libraries use copyrighted materials and have legal rights through exceptions and limitations
- Protect balance - equalize bargaining leverage among creators, publishers, users
- Often only entities that provide access to vast majority of copyrighted works that lose market vitality
- Often only entities that preserve public domain materials
- Impact on Digital Libraries
- Seek to maintain for users, and libraries acting on their behalf, their rights to at least the same extent as they have enjoyed in the non-digital environment
- Expect law to continue maintaining the balance
