Copyright -intellectual property protection or monopoly-
While copyright laws are important to have in order to protect intellectual property they can also limit creativity if they are too strict.
In the Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act the basic idea of copyright is defined.
The Copyright is basically the exclusive right for the copyright owner to reproduce the work, revise it, sell or share copies in public or rent, lease or lend it to somebody else and the right to perform it in public (if it’s an audiovisual work for example).
Copyright includes a wide range of creativity and intellectual and artistic works.
This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.
There are also different categories for poems, theses, literacy, motion pictures, choreography, musical compositions, sound recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photography, computer software, radio and television broadcasts and industrial designs. The copyright does not cover the message itself but the way this message is presented. Marvel for example has the copyright for “Hulk” a superhero who is really strong. But that doesn’t mean that nobody else is allowed to invent another superhero who is really strong too as long as it doesn’t seem to be a copy of “Hulk”.
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights mentioned by the copyright
law to the owner of copyright. However, these rights are not unlimited.
Sections 107 to 122 of the Copyright Act of 1976 make limitations
on these rights. One major limitation is the doctrine of “fair use,”
(section 107 Copyright Act of the 1976 ). In some cases one can get a “compulsory licence” which allows limited uses of the copyrighted works in exchange for payments and under special conditions.
To register a work one has to send a complete application form, two copies of the work being registered or other evidence for the ownership of this work and pay a $20 fee for each application to the Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington D.C., 20559:
But most of the people do not have a clear understanding about all these Copyright Laws and rules which result in illegal and expensive mistakes for a lot of them.
Copyright stops cultural development... reactions (works) on works are not allowed
Too much copyright is bad for the people because it gives companies to much power.
To show an example, one of the first copyright laws in the 1600s gave a company the right to search homes for illegal copies of the clothes they produced. The possible responses to violations were punishments including death by torture! Should a product, produced for the people really be protected by copyright. Shouldn’t a person, if he sees a chance to produce something on his own paying less be to do so? Should a company really be given the right to
reduce the people right of privacy and the right of freedom and life , guaranteed by the bill of rights?
“The industry is trying to demonise consumer behaviour. They’re trying to create the idea that it’s a moral debate: is downloading something wrong or right? Is it theft or not? These are the wrong questions and they will only ever produce the wrong answers.” Jim Killock
Copyright focuses on making money!
Copyright laws only work with a few publishers/ artists. In the internet there are some many artists that one loses track. So, if everyone is seen as a publisher, any attempt of enforcing copyright laws wouldn’t make sense! “Any attempt at enforcement is simply shooting fish, unlucky for the fish that get shot, but the fish population remains unaffected.” (Fitch)
“In the U.S, over 35,000 Americans were targeted for lawsuits for downloading music. In ten years time, everyone will look back at that as incredibly unjust and ridiculous. No-one thinks that suing music fans one at a time is the business model of the future. (von Lohmann)
Copyright has too much power over the people. If somebody is asked: “Who owns what is in your head?”, people would answer: “Nobody, just me!”. People are guaranteed the right of expressing themselves and their thoughts. But are people allowed publish works of others that are in their mind now under their names? No! And that means whoever owns the copyright for a work in your mind owns your thoughts! as J.B. Robinson said, “What is an idea? Is it made
of wood, or iron, or stone? The idea is nothing objective, it’s not part of the product: it is part of the producer of the idea”. In other words, if an artist claims ownership of words in his listener’s head, this reduces to a form of slavery since the ownership claim deals with an aspect of the listener’s body like his mind, his knowledge, … . “Such a claim is comparable to saying you own the blood in someone else’s arm.”
George Bernard Shaw who contended “copyright is the cry of men who are not satisfied with
being paid for their work once but insist upon being paid twice, thrice and a dozen times over.”