Making Copies
In its simplest form making copies is making copies. Computers have added
some recent complications, like the temporary copies in packet buffers
or on screens, and copies left on backup tape. But you can go pretty far
by assuming that just about any computerized operation on a work involves
copying it.
And simply, the copyright holder gets to say if you can do this. But that's
where it all gets modified by the issues of:
Commerce
Most of copyright has to do with commerce. In fact, one major reason it's
there is that most people believe that if you let people have copyrights
and make money from them, it strongly encourages the creation and productive
exploitation of creative works, which is a good thing in most people's
book. Copyright is also about control of one's creations -- particularly
in most non-U.S. countries which explicitly recognize "moral copyrights."
But still, commerce is king. So while a copyright holder can stop you
from copying something, usually they would much rather find some way to
charge you for copying it. So while some worry that copyright can give
rather strong powers to the author, the truth is that the market brings
it all into balance.
It also means that
to be enforced, copyrights have to have some commercial value. Nobody
sane is going to file lawsuits over things like ordinary e-mail messages
and USENET postings that have minimal commercial value, if any. You should,
however, try to comply with the wishes of authors.
You also have to watch
it on USENET and the web. These are no longer tiny places. Posting here
is honest-to-goodness publication, sometimes to an audience of hundreds
of thousands if not millions. You can seriously damage the commercial
value of something by giving it free to such a large audience, all with
the touch of a button.
Fair Use /
Fair Dealing
There is a complex doctrine associated with copyright law which allows
certain types of copying without permission in areas where it is felt
that some more important social principles would be violated otherwise.
The "fair use" doctrine (fair dealing in Canada and some other
nations) in its purest form, lets a film critic include a clip from a
film in her review to illustrate a point. Since negative critics would
never get permission to do this, the fair use exemption exists to stop
copyright law from being used to stifle criticism.
This means that if
you are doing things like comment on a copyrighted work, making fun of
it, teaching about it or researching it, you can make some limited use
of the work without permission. For example you can quote excerpts to
show how poor the writing quality is. You can teach a course about T.S.
Eliot and quote lines from his poems to the class to do so. Some people
think fair use is a wholesale licence to copy if you don't charge or if
you are in education, but it isn't. If you want to republish other stuff
without permission and think you have a fair use defense, you should read
the more detailed discussions of the subject you will find through the
links above.
Fair Use has also
seen some expansion in recent days, to things like time-shifting video
recordings, computer backups, space-shifting media files and more.
The Net
There's a pretty simple rule when it comes to the net. If you didn't write
it, and you want to reproduce it, ask the creator, or ascertain that it
meets the complex public domain rules if it's pretty old. Most people
don't really need to know much more than this. If you do, check the other
documents.
Some Legal
Basics
Under the Berne copyright convention, which almost all major nations have
signed, every creative work is copyrighted the moment it is fixed in tangible
form. No notice is necessary, though it helps legal cases. No registration
is necessary, though it's needed later to sue. The copyright lasts until
70 years after the author dies. Facts and ideas can't be copyrighted,
only expressions of creative effort.
Note: Robert
Spitz is unable to respond to any questions or inquiries by phone, fax,
letter, or email from individuals who are not existing clients. Mr. Spitz
offers Free Consultation for approved contingency fee cases and Probates.
Please contact the office to schedule
an appointment. |