What Is Copyright And Its Implications For Ordinary Consumers

At one time or another, every consumer’s attention has been caught by a notice in the pages of a book or the casing of a DVD saying all rights reserved. This statement is so commonplace people hardly give it a second thought. Actually, it is an important notice that clearly leads to the question of what is copyright because it informs the public that the person who created the work has exclusive rights to the material.

What Do Copyrights Cover

A copyright is granted to an individual based on a reasonable assumption that he or she is the original creator of the material in question. This claim to being the originator is fundamental to ownership of any copyright.

Copyrights can cover a lot of things that have become part of everyday living. Some of these are books, literary works, songs, artwork, software, radio and television broadcasts, audio recordings, movies, graphic and industrial designs and even photographs.

Ideas and information are not covered by copyright protection. Rather, what copyrights safeguard is the manner or the distinctive form in which the idea or the information has been conveyed. For example, the emotions described in a song cannot be covered by a copyright but its lyrics and melody can certainly be.

Rights Included in a Copyright

Holders of a copyright have certain prerogatives that show the essence of what is copyright. For one thing, they have exclusive rights to make copies of their work. This absolute right extends to the reproduction of electronic copies. Only the copyright holders have the right to sell copies of the materials protected by their copyright. Likewise, importing and exporting the material is also a right given solely to them.

Copyright holders have sole rights over adapting the original work or coming up with what is referred to as derivative creations. The public performance or display of their creation is also an exclusive right – one which extends to transmission through radio or video.

Copyrights may be sold or assigned to others. Moreover, these exclusive rights do not last forever. In the United States, works are protected by a copyright during the lifetime of the creator plus seventy years after his or her death. If a material was made by several persons, the copyright lasts seventy years after the death of the last person involved in the creation of the material.

Exceptions to the Copyright Rule

Restrictions imposed by copyrights do not extend to articles like maps, sketches of the brain or other body parts or other items articles of general use. In general, neither do restrictions apply to copying material for noncommercial purposes. These would include copies made for use in study, research, review, critique, news reporting or as reference in professional advice.

Copyrights and the Ordinary Consumer

There are some frequently occurring situations in ordinary life that show what is copyright and how it can be an issue in many ordinary activities. As a whole, avoiding legal problems about copyrights is not difficult. For example if a class were to print shirts for a reunion with a caricature of a lion, there is nothing to stop it from doing so. However, if they print shirts with an image of Disney’s lion king, copyright would come into the picture.

As far as DVDs, movies and television shows are concerned, people are allowed to watch these through legitimate rental companies without having to buy them. The public is also allowed to record shows that are being aired so that they can watch these shows later. However, people are not allowed to make copies for selling. This copyright restriction has become extremely difficult to impose today because technology has made copying and mass production extremely easy.

In many ways, because of this problem with enforcement, complying with the prohibitions of copyright has become a personal ethics issue for ordinary consumers. However, when materials protected by a copyright are copied, mass produced and sold for profit by someone other than the copyright holder, the whole business is definitely no longer just a personal matter.