10. Jess:
I’ve been coming back to this idea throughout the week as I
think about my own project with community work, where
populations or individuals are often not deemed authors, or at
least not Authors. And their work goes unacknowledged
because they lack the access or agency to publish and/or to be
heard so that they can even act in the capacity of an author. ...I
keep thinking about how the cultural status of an author (as it
relates to copyright laws) first acknowledges that an author
exists. I guess I’m wondering if copyright laws do/can protect
people in this situation, people who perhaps aren’t necessarily
typical authors wanting to protect their work but still write
and invent texts?
Thursday, March 21, 13
11. Tamara:
Who benefits from copyright law?
What is the purpose of publishing work/
making it public?
What is a work worth if the general public
cannot access it?
[And what is the purpose of protecting it?]
Thursday, March 21, 13
18. “The Congress shall have 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.”
(USC 17, Article 1, Section 8)
Thursday, March 21, 13
19. “The Congress shall have 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.”
(USC 17, Article 1, Section 8)
Thursday, March 21, 13
20. . 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.”
(USC 17, Article 1, Section 8)
Thursday, March 21, 13
23. 1909: 28/28
• covered “all the writings of an author”
• term began from publication rather than
registration
• unpublished works not covered
Thursday, March 21, 13
24. 1976: life + 50
• Fixation rather than registration
• Ownership of unbundled rights
• Termination rights
• Anonymous/pseudonymous works and
works-for-hire: 75 years from publication or
100 years from creation.
• Fair use
Thursday, March 21, 13
26. Fair Use
• What is the character of the use?
• What is the nature of the use?
• How much will you use?
• What are the market effects?
Thursday, March 21, 13
30. Berne Convention
• Every major country except China, USSR,
and US
• US entry in 1989 after 102 years of refusal
(We’ll come back to this.)
Thursday, March 21, 13
31. Sonny Bono Copyright
Term Extension Act, 1998
• Life + 70 years
Thursday, March 21, 13
33. • No circumventing digital protections
• No distribution of devices designed to
circumvent digital protections
• No selling of anti-security tools
• No removing copyright information
• Safe harbor for Internet Service Providers
Thursday, March 21, 13
34. What is copyright?
The right of the author/
creator to control.
Thursday, March 21, 13
46. Issues (Samuelson)
• ease of replication
• ease of transmission and multiple use
• plasticity of digital media
• equivalence of works in digital form
• compactness of works in digital form
• new search and link capacities
Thursday, March 21, 13
55. The countries to which this Convention
applies constitute a Union for the
protection of the rights of authors in their
literary and artistic works.
Thursday, March 21, 13