Copyrightlaw知识产权法.ppt

Copyright law-summary Copyright law in the U.S. is governed by federal statute, namely the Copyright Act of 1976. The Copyright Act prevents the unauthorized copying of a work of authorship. However, only the copying of the work is prohibited-anyone may copy the ideas contained within a work. For example, a copyright could cover a written description of a machine, but the actual machine itself is not covered. Thus, no one could copy the written description, while anyone could use the description to build the described machine. Copyrights can be registered in the Copyright Office in the Library of Congress, but newly created works do not need to be registered. In fact, it is no longer necessary to even place a copyright notice on a work for it to be protected by copyright law. However, the Copyright Act does provide additional benefits to those who register with the Copyright Office. Consequently, copyright registration and the use of a copyright notice is recommended. Copyright law-Rights Granted Under Copyright Law 1,the right to reproduce 复制 The reproduction right is perhaps the most important right granted by the Copyright Act. Under this right, no one other than the copyright owner may make any reproductions or copies of the work. Examples of unauthorized acts which are prohibited（禁止） under this right include photocopying a book, copying a computer software program, using a cartoon character on a t-shirt, and incorporating（合并） a portion of anothers song into a new song. 2，the right to prepare derivative(派生的） works The right to make a derivative work overlaps somewhat with the reproduction right. According to the Copyright Act, a derivative work is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement,dramatization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment（文摘）, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. 3，the right to discribe copies of the work to public The distribution right grants to the copyright holder the exclusive(独有的） right to make a work available to the public by sale, rental（租赁 ）, lease, or lending. This right allows the copyright holder to prevent the distribution of unauthorized copies of a work. In addition, the right allows the copyright holder to control the first distribution of a particular authorized copy. 4，the right to perform the copyrighted work publicly The public performance right allows the copyright holder to control the public performance of certain copyrighted works. The scope of the performance right is limited to the following types of works: literary works, musical works, dramatic works, Choreographic(舞台舞蹈的 ) works, pantomimes, (哑剧) motion pictures, and audio visual works. 5，the right to display the copyrighted work publicly The public display right is similar to the public performance right, except that this right controls the public “display“ of a work. This right is limited to the following types of works: literary works; musical works; dramatic works; choreographic works; pantomimes; pictorial works; graphical works; sculptural works; and stills (individual images) from motion pictures and other audio visual works. Copyright Ownership One of the most important concerns in copyright law is the determination of copyright ownership. The general rule is that the creator of the work is the owner of all copyright interests in the work. However, where two or more parties create a work together, copyright ownership becomes a more difficult issue. In addition, copyright ownership is more difficult to determine when the creator of a work is being paid by a third- party to create the work. 1,Joint Authorship When several people work together to create a single work, a joint work may be created under the Copyright Act. A joint work is defined by the Copyright Act as: “a work prepared by two or more authors with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole”. 2, Works Made for Hire-The Standard In a work made for hire situation, the “author“ of the work is no longer the individual who created the work. Instead, the “author“ is considered to be the entity which hired the actual creators of the work (such as a corporation for whom the author works as an employee). Termination(终结) of Transfers Although a copyright owner is free to transfer her copyright rights as she sees fit, the Copyright Act contains a non-revocable（可撤销） right for a copyright owner to terminate any copyright transfer. The purpose for this is to give the creator of the work or the creators heirs（继承者） a second chance to exploit the work in situations where the value of the work may have been significantly enhanced since the original transfer. Generally, there is a five year window of time to accompl