Current Copyright Law

Copyright law is the rights given to the creators, authors and publishers of a produced work. In the United States, the law is under title 17 of the U.S. code. According to the 1976 Copyright Act, the owner of the copyright gets the exclusive right to do and authorize others to do the following:

• To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;

• To prepare derivative works based upon the work;

• To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or

other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

• To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and

choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual

works;

• To display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and

choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural

works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual

work; and

• In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.”

Under the U.S. Copyright Law, these are the current fair use (limited use of copyrighted material) laws

The Fair Use Provisions in U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC 107)

TITLE 17 > CHAPTER 1 > § 107

§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

These two provisions in US law are some the important facets when understanding the legal issues currently facing Google Books. Another important aspect is the time a work stays under copyright.

A work that was created after January 1, 1978 is automatically protected from its creation date to the lifespan of the author, plus 70 years after the author’s death. Works that were created before January 1, 1978 but not published or registered by that date have been automatically given federal copyright protection that is the same as if it was published after January 1, 1978.

One of the biggest changes to copyright law has been in the form of the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act” or the Copyright Extension Act, which was passed in 1998. Lobbied by the entertainment industry, and it particular Disney, they wanted copyright to be extended on any work created after 1923. Disney in particular had much to lose with the current copyright as much of their classic content, like Mickey Mouse, would have been soon part of the public domain.

Another big part of the copyright debate lies in international copyright laws. The biggest problem; there are no international copyright laws. An author’s work depends on the particular countries copyright law. There are some protections in place that have come about from international treaties and conventions but there is no guarantee of universal protection from country to country.