A Work in Progress

Panel: Will Frank (M), Paul Herman, Richard Morgan, John Wardale

This was an interesting panel. I went because I knew that there's been quite a bit of uproar about various copyright-related issues. I did learn quite a bit.

My Notes

• Some people think of copyright just as protection
• The biggest goal of copyright is just to promote culture
• The reason there is any protection at all is so that artists can gain income from their works
• Supposed to provide a limit so you can protect your stuff for a period of time, but has become perpetual
• Copyright is really narrow (someone has take the same picture you did)
• Copyright is provided for in the Constitution; a balance—a deal—between the government and the artist
• Patent is for ideas; copyrights are for the actual work
• Copyright is the exclusive rights that can be licensed
• Original copyright was 28 years, now 95; 75 years in most places overseas (life of the artist + 25 years)
• In the U.S., it is only about economic benefit, not moral as in Europe
• Fair Use exception: 4 key points
• Have you harmed the future income potential of the work?
• One key word is "transformative"
• Some groups create an aura around their rights
• Parody is a good example of fair use
• The Internet exists in a weird place in relation to copyright
• Cite your source
• Respect the social norm
• Trademark is a different beast; it's related to a product or a family of products, not content
• Creative Commons licensing
• Open source is about free speech, not free beer
• Most fan work is derivative work
• There are different rules about inheriting copyright than for other items; make sure you plan for that accordingly