MediaSpace Wiki

Regulation Of Media Fall2004 Session09

Next Week

We don't meet next week. I'll be at NCA in Chicago. We'll meet again the following week. There is an assignment (see below).

Today

Short paper (six pages) due.

• Discuss grading method
• Discuss questions without returning exam
• Return exam

Copyright, Trademark, and other forms of Creative Property

Readings

Pember and Calvert, C.14; Zelezny, C.8; Lessig, C.2-5.

• Immaterial Property Law regulates the ownership and use of intangible property. Variants include:
  • Patents
    • Protects "inventions" for Upwards of 20 years
    • "Inventors give up their secrets, publishing them for all to see and absorb, and in exchange they get 20-year sanctioned monopolies on their technologies" (Gleick)
    • Variants
      • technologies: inventions that have utility, such as a machine or process
      • designs: the specific appearance of an article
  • Trademarks
    • word, symbol or other device that differentiates a companies goods and services
      • Trade names
      • Iconic representations
      • Slogans
      • Service Marks
      • Certification Marks
      • Collective marks
    • If maintained, good forever
      • Maintenance is generally via thread of lawsuit
  • Intellectual property (Plagiarism)
    • Misappropriation
  • Copyrighted works
    • Copyright extends to "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression."
      • a tangible medium is "any permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than a transitory duration"
    • Roots
      • Statute of Eight Anne
      • Congressional copyright law
    • Protected six ways
      • reproduction
      • preparation of derivative works
      • public performance, display, or distribution
      • digital content
    • Copyright protects
      • recordings, but not performances (although common-law copyright applies)
      • creative works, but not the ideas that undergird the work
      • artistry rather than inventions or algorithms
      • expressions about facts but not the facts themselves or lists of same)
      • depictions of the news, but not the news itself
    • Duration of copyright
      • Has grown from 14 years plus 14 renewal
      • to 28 years plus 14 years (1831)
      • to life of creator plus 70 years (1978)
      • and now even longer: life plus up to 95 years (1998)
    • Fair Use criteria
      • Purpose and Character of Use
      • Nature of copyrighted work
      • amount of the work used
      • Effect of Use on Market (gets the most weight)
    • Getting copyright protection
      • Copyright is automatic, but with restrictions on protection
      • Place a copyright notice
      • Register the work
    • Issues in Infringement
      • Originality of the Plaintiff's work
      • Access
      • Copying and substantial similarity
    • Copyright and the Internet
      • The question of whether new law is necessary
      • New law: the DMCA
        • DMCA and RIAA
          • Napster
          • Public file sharing
          • Attacking the file sharers
• Lessig brings several of these forms of immaterial property protection together in his argument that immaterial property law is intended to strike a balance between the ability to profit from creative accomplishment and
  • the burdens those rights impose on the public
  • the publics ability to make reasonable use of that content
  • the publics interest in continuing innovation, including innovation in both content and technology
• There are classic arguments that are made with every new medium that enables creativity
  • Copyright owners complain of piracy
  • Users and distributors of content should be able to profit from their use of it
• One common balance in mass media is allowing reproduction after initial publication, but with a fixed royalty schedule

Paper due November 17 (two weeks)

Identify a problem in the regulation of media (perhaps from your first short paper or from the questions you brought to class) that might be solved by a change in law, architecture, and/or norms. Describe the problem in detail including relevant cases and any other evidence you may have that speaks to the reality of the problem (this should take at least one page). Describe your solution in detail, including the specifics of what would be done and who would need to be involved in making the solution happen (This should take most of a page or more). Describe the implications of the solution. Think broadly here (of course you think your solution will solve the problem). Most solutions cause other problems. Some solve other problems. Some solutions are readily accepted. Most are strongly resisted by at least some stakeholder groups). Plan on a paper that is at lteast 4 to 6 pages long. Cite everything that needs to be in APA format.