Weighing Public Domain Against The Extended Copyright Act

The Copyright Act of 1976 defined the rights of copyright holders and how long these rights would be in effect. It also articulated exceptions to copyright restrictions based on what is referred to as the doctrine of fair use. This law went into effect on January 1, 1978 and was later, in a sense, expanded to by the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act. Today there are a lot of discussions on the virtues of copyright law with its extended features and its impact on public domain. These discussions show that copyright protection is not as simple as it initially seems; issues have been brought up to challenge the very concepts behind copyrights.

Basic Provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976

The 1976 US law on copyrights and its provisions remains in effect today. Among others, it clearly identifies what works can be protected by a copyright. One of the sections of this act states very clearly that copyright protection can cover literary works, musical compositions and any accompanying works, dramatic works and their music, pantomimes, choreographic works, pictorial, graphic, sculptural works, motion pictures and audiovisual works, sound recordings. In 1990, this list was expanded to include architectural works.

The law also defines the exclusive rights of copyright holders. It specifies that only the copyright holder has the right to create other works adapted from or derived from the original; to make duplicates or copy the work; to distribute, sell, lease the copies of these works and perform the work in the case of choreography, pantomime, motion picture or other audiovisual work; or display these works publicly. In 1995 this list was expanded to include the right to perform a sound recording by means of digital audio.

Exceptions to Copyright Restrictions

There are some acts excluded from the rights of copyright holders. Copying is not deemed illegal when it falls under the category of fair use, a doctrine which allows copying for the purpose of scholarship, research, criticism, comment, news, reporting, teaching and as reference for professional advice. However, in order to gauge whether such use falls under the fair use doctrine, it must be determined that the purpose is indeed nonprofit and not commercial. Moreover, it must be established that among other things, the use of the work will not adversely affect the potential market or the value of the copyrighted work.

Features Added by Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act

On October 27, 1998, a law was passed extending the term of copyrights to 70 years beyond the death of the copyright holder which in the past was limited to 50 years. The assumption is that the heirs of the original copyright owner would continue to benefit from acknowledgement and the proceeds of the work left to them. After the term of the copyright, however, the work is to revert to public domain which means that everyone would have the right to duplicate in any form and to distribute, sell, display or perform previously copyrighted works. In 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that after the term of a copyright has expired, Congress can withdraw works from the public domain and, in effect, restore copyright protection.

Issues Brought up Restrictions of the Copyright Act

In the beginning the concept of copyright was concretized as a law with the intention that copyright protection would encourage artists and authors to create original works. In substance it also served to affirm the rights of authors and artists to benefit from their work. Today, many advocates assert that there should be a limit to copyrights so that these works can be used to spread learning and to create other works. Activists against copyrights also premise that whatever earnings have been generated and received during the lifetime of the author plus fifty years after would be sufficient income from the work.

Perhaps in all the controversies that abound about copyrights, it is important to seek the substance of the law. The purpose of any law should be to protect those who must be protected and to deal justly with the interest of both the individual and the public. This should hold true for copyrights as well.