As we discussed earlier, courts look at the purpose and character of the use for both the original owner and the derivative use. Courts look at how the party claiming fair use is using the copyrighted work. Is the derivative use meant to make money? If so, it is more likely to be found infringing, but if … Read more
Jeff likes to say, “There are only three “fairs” in the world: The county fair, the state fair, and the World’s Fair.” However clever that is, in copyright law, we also have fair use. I’ve been getting asked a lot of forms of, “If I do X, am I doing something wrong with someone else’s … Read more
We discussed infringement last week, but what we didn’t say was this is “direct infringement.” This is when the party who is held responsible is the one who actually engaged in infringing activities. OK, that makes sense, but you’re thinking, “If you are saying that, then there is something else? Someone can be held responsible … Read more
Infringement is a fancy word that pretty much means “used without permission.” We talked about what copyright owners had the right to do. That means others don’t have the right to do those with the copyrighted item without the owner’s permission. If they use it without permission – ding, ding, ding = Infringement! For example, … Read more
Copyright is a form of intellectual property law. That means it protects the intangible aspects of a creative product that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. Specifically, it protects original works of authorship, which is defined pretty broadly to include literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer … Read more
To help determine who is an employee when it comes to work for hire, the US Supreme Court inCommunity for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid identified three broad factors that make up an “employer-employee” relationship. Control by the paying company over the work. The more the control the paying company has over what the work is … Read more
“Work for hire” Three simple words. I know what each means independently, but as a phrase they take on a special meaning in copyright law. That special meaning, however, most do not know. In copyright, the creator of the creative expression of an idea (you know, the thing that is copyrighted) is the default owner. … Read more
This was spotted at Donegal Castle in Donegal Town. We couldn’t help but share. It brings a whole new meaning of the questions related to costs of enforcement.
The right to create derivative works is one of the exclusive rights of the owner of a copyright. A “derivative work,” according to 17 U.S.C. §101, “is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any … Read more
Fan fiction is material created by fans of a piece of work rather than the owners or creators. Movies, television shows and books all have fans that have spun off their own stories, drawings, movies and more. The fans take characters created by another on new adventures, some within canonical fictional universe, some decidedly not. … Read more