Intellectual property rights – copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secrets – is a highly contentious area of the law, and one where both law and practice are changing under us. As an artist, you’ll need to keep abreast of law in this area in order to protect your property rights in the work that you create. Copyright will be the most important type of intellectual property rights law for most artists, though those who do programming as part of their artworks, or in order to create digital art, will also be interested in patent law.
Copyright Law
Copyright actually involves a bundle of five different types of rights, each of which can be managed separately.
The basics of copyright, including fair use and the creative commons approaches to intellectual property.
The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency [www.accesscopyright.ca]
Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency/Captain Copyright
Basics of international copyright law, which also applies within the United States.
World Intellectal Property Organization [www.wipo.int]
WIPO/Frequently Asked Questions
A discussion of the effects of the Supreme Court’s determination that significantly extending the copyright term has on the ability of artists to create.
Public Knowledge/National Alliance of Media Arts and Culture [www.publicknowledge.org, www.namac.org]
Gigi Sohn/Beyond Eldred: What’s Next for Copyright Reform?
Orphan works are works that may be copyrighted, but for which the copyright owner cannot be found. This article explains the issue.
National Alliance for Media Art and Culture [www.namac.org]
Christine Kawasaki/Missing in Action: Copyright Clearance and the Orphan Works Dilemma
A review of the variety of copyright issues raised for video – and other genres – in the digital environment.
Center for Democracy and Technology [www.cdt.org]
CDT/Mapping the Digital Video Copyright Landscape: Stakeholder Interests and the Internet
An increasingly popular alternative allows artists to craft licenses for their work that includes the mix of features they believe important while still maximizing the ability of others to access their work. This “commons” approach to copyright is legal but provides flexibility regarding the level and kinds of protection ensured. In addition to providing information about how commons licenses work, this website also provides all tools (from text describing a license to the computer code needed for implementation) for choosing a creative commons license and putting it into practice.
Creative Commons [creativecommons.org]
Creative Commons/Frequently Asked Questions
Use of Technologies to Protect Copyright
One of the most dramatic legal innovations of recent years is the use of technological means to protect copyright. Critics of such techniques point out that they may prevent legitimate fair use, and that some technologies involved actually cause damage to a user’s equipment.
Digital rights management (DRM) technologies, which prevent users from downloading or sharing materials to which copyright owners believe the users have no right, are explained here. The discussion also introduces a number of dimensions along which different approaches to DRM can be compared. The “quick reference chart” summarizes these dimensions on one page.
Center for Democracy and Technology [www.cdt.org]
CDT/Evaluating DRM: Building a Marketplace for a Convergent World
full text:
quick reference chart:
The “broadcast flag” is a combination of technical and legal techniques for preventing unauthorized redistribution of televised programs. This primer explains how the broadcast flag works and what its implications are for fair use.
Center for Democracy and Technology [www.cdt.org]
CDT/Implications of the Broadcast Flag: A Public Interest Primer (version 2.0)
Dispute Resolution for Digital Copyright Issues
There has been so much disagreement about the rights of producers and distributors to redistribute content initially created for other media over the web and about how to determine appropriate royalties for all webcast content that the Copyright Office set up a Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP). This fact sheet explains how it works.
Future of Music Coalition [www.futureofmusic.org]
Future of Music Coalition/Fact Sheet about Webasting and the CARP
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act assigns responsibility to those who run networks – such as universities – to intervene when there are complaints that copyright has been abused by a system user. This piece explains the key points in this legislation.
UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy [www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp]
UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy/The Digital Millenium Copyright Act