• Library of Alexandria
  • Legend has it that ships were searched and all books found were copied
  • Original copies of great historical works were brought here
  • In several incidents the library burned and tremendous knowledge was lost
• Public Domain: Anciently, all works were in the public domain. If you made a copy it was yours. The act of copying was difficult.
• 1476 things change
  • The printing press was brought to England
  • It became significantly easier to make copies of books and other similar works
  • The king starts to get crazy about people publishing things that were false, or worse, critical of the crown
  • Licensing of the Press Act (1662) gave authority to regulate printing (i.e. the press itself) to licensed publishers.
  • This was control on the technology, not the work
• Statute of Anne
  • First public copyright law
  • 1710 - successor to the Licensing of the Press Act
  • Came about because the publishers wanted their previous monopoly but couldn’t get parliament to agree
  • It gave a 14 year term with a 14 year renewal - focus was on benefit to the authors rather than publishers
  • This was to control the work, not the technology
  • Following the 14 (or 28) years, the work entered the public domain
• Why copyright?
  • US Constitution Section 8, Clause 8: “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;”
  • The social contract - We get more good works in return for the author getting time to make money. The works are for the public good.
  • Public domain is the final destination for the “public good” as it allows new works to be created
• Fair Use
  • Purpose: Balance public good against the author’s interests
  • Four factor test
    • Purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
    • Nature of copyrighted work
    • Amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
    • Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work
• Changing Technologies and types of copyrights
  • Music
  • Movies and TV
  • The Internet
• Happy Birthday Song
  • Written by two people
  • Basically the same as “Good Morning To You”
  • Copyright owned by Warner Brothers
  • Aggressively enforced
  • Public Good?

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References

• Library of Alexandria
• Licensing Of the Press Act
• Statute of Anne
• Music Copyright