COPYRIGHT LAW SPRING 2002: CLASS 1

Professor Fischer

Introduction to Copyright

January 7, 2002

Welcome!

• 2 Handouts:

• Course Outline

• Reading List (up until Spring Break)

• Everything is available online at: http://www.law.edu/faculty/fischer(click on Copyright Law 2002)

Course Outline

• Please read carefully

• Attendance

• Exams/Grading/Quizzes

• Contacting me: 202-319-5568 or fischer@law.edu

• Class Listserv - send me e-mail by Friday

• Class Participation/Class Preparation

Reading List

• 2 books: Casebook (Gorman & Ginsburg, 6th edition) and Statutory Supplement (2002 edition)

• Class Preparation

• Discussion Questions

Copyright Law: Exciting, Cutting-edge, and Practical

• A core subject in the intellectual property, communications, entertainment law, and cyberlaw fields

• Interesting because it is currently adapting to new digital technologies

• Involves creative works including art, music, and literature

Topics for Today’s Class

• 1. The basics - what’s a copyright?

• 2. Example of a copyright dispute

• 3. Some history of copyright law

What’s a Copyright?

•©

What’s a Copyright

• Essentially, a right of limited duration to make copies of a given work and stop others from making copies (and some other acts) without the copyright owner’s permission.

• Copyright is a bundle of exclusive rights that exists in certain types of works

Example of a Copyright Dispute

• Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569, 114 S.Ct 1164 (1994)

History of Copyright Law

• St. Columba and King Diarmid “To every cow her calf and to every book its copy”

Copyright is Technology’s Child

• Pirating of manuscripts was not a big problem until a technological development: the printing press

Copyright Originally Developed in England: The Statute of Anne

(1710)• The Statute of Anne

(1710)• Elements of Later

Copyright Statutes• 1. Notice• 2. Registration• 3. Deposit• 4. Penalties for

Infringement

Stationers’ Company

• Livery company in the City of London

• Facilitated Crown control of printing

• Had exclusive right to practice the art of printing until Licensing Acts expired in 1694

U.S.: Colonial/Early State Copyright Acts

• Did all the U.S. states have copyright laws after the American Revolution?

• What was the main problem with these early state copyright statutes?

• What did the Framers of the Constitution do as a result of this problem?

Patent and Copyright Clause

• U.S. Const. Art. I sec. 8 cl. 8

• 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

Federal Copyright Statutes

• Starting in 1790, Congress passed a series of copyright acts

• Originally covered only books, maps and charts

• Copyrightable subject matter has moved way beyond this to e.g. computer programs, etc..

Wheaton v. Peters (1834)

• Dispute between Henry Wheaton and Richard Peters, rival law reporters

• What was the issue that the U.S. Supreme Court had to decide? Why was it a significant issue?

Important Subsequent Federal Statutes

• Copyright Act of 1909

• Copyright Act of 1976

• Many amendments to the Copyright Act of 1976, e.g. Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act (1990), Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998) etc.

U.S. Ratification of the Berne Convention

• What is the Berne Convention?

• When did the U.S. ratify it?

Final Words on Historical Trends in Copyright Law

• 1. Progressive expansion of copyrightable subject matter

• 2. Expansion of duration

• 3. Growing U.S. participation in international copyright system

• 4. Steadily reduced importance of formalities