Copyright- Making Both Parties Happy
In this modern day and age, we see the word "copyright" being used ever so frequently. Suddenly, almost everything around us seems to be protected by the copyright law, everything from the Happy Birthday song that we sing to even the price list on Best Buy during Black Friday! (Ovalle, 2005) , (Lim, Kevin, Communication 125 lecture, 9/01/2007) However, has anyone ever wondered how the copyright law came about?
The copyright law evolved with the printing press in England during the end of the 15th century. During that time, it was not practical for the author to copy his or her own book, therefore, they "sold" the rights of copying the book to the publishers. Thus, the copyright was considered a non-controversial issue. (Stallman, 2000) However, the copyright law is now in place, mainly to protect the interests of the authors. The law aims to give creators the right to own their creations exclusively, benefit them financially and to encourage authors to create more original works of their own. The copyright law is also more concerned with the primary market, which is the first sale of the material. (Ovalle, 2005)
With the advancement in technology, much information has been available online. Since it is so simple to create information in cyberspace, the information can be subjected to change easily. Digital information sharing between users have also been popular. The illegal sharing of copyrighted materials on peer to peer networks has been rampant, with file sharing being one of the most common online activities. According to statistics, more than 60 million Americans have downloaded music and this number continues to grow rapidly. In the founding year of Napster in 2004 there were more than 9 million simultaneous users on major peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. (Oberholzer-Gee & Strumpf, 2005)
Though it seems that the copyright law is protecting mainly the interests of the authors, the law is actually intended to maintain a balance between the interests of the authors and the public. However, the public has voiced their discontentment as many feel that the authors have been given too much protection and that the law puts them at a disadvantage. Therefore, I feel that there should be some changes made to the copyright law in order to accomadate both the interests of content creators and the public. The "Lehman White Paper", a conference that was held at the University of Oregon, for example states that the copyright laws should never propose that the public trade "all" its freedom to the published works. Both parties, the content creator and the public should benefit from the law. (Stallman, 2000)
Personally, I feel that there is a major change that should be made to the copyright law in order to give maximum benefit to both the parties. The length of the copyright should be reduced. In the US for example, most books that are published are out of print within 3 years, however, the copyright for these books is a whopping 95 years! I do not think that a 95 year copyright is needed, in fact a 10 year copyright from the date of publication will be sufficient. Even amongst the content creators, some authors find that a 10 year copyright is too long. The government should empirically study the length of copyright that is needed to keep the publication active, following which the length of copyright be allocated to the different categories of work. The copyright of movies for example, should last a period of around 20 years. This will also include the rights to sell paraphernalia with the picture of characters on them. The copyright of software should be the shortest, for a period of roughly 3 years. This is because, the software industry is constantly improving and unless the company is in serious trouble, they would have produced a newer version of the software within a period of 3 years. (Stallman, 2000) Therefore, if we shorten the copyright, the public will feel more satisfied and at the same time, the content creators are still being protected.
The next solution that can be adopted in order to accomadate the interests of both parties will be to implement an internet voluntary payment system. There could be a box on the top right hand side of the webpage that indicates to the public that they can click and donate some money to the author if they are satisfied with the piece of work that they are viewing or listening to. Many believe that this system will work very well in the developed and wealthier countries because many people really appreciate their author's work. This can be a way of keeping a "painless kind of copyright for general public that is still of benefit to authors" (Stallman, 2000) In addition, when the public makes these donations to the authors, the creators will know that they are being recognized and this will spur them to create even better work in the future.
In conclusion, we must realise that the issue of copyright law is a very sensitive and thorny problem that the public and the content creators have yet to resolve. The government can come up with many solutions such as the shortening of copyright and the internet voluntary payment system but these solutions will only work if both the content creators and the approach this problem with an open-mind and resolve the problem together.
References:
Ovalle, Carlos (2005). "Information in Cyberspace: Why Copyright?" Retrieved January 31, 2007 from http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~i312co/2.php
Stallman, Richard (2000) "Possible Solutions to Copyright Problems." Retrieved January 31, 2007 from http://www.carnall.demon.co.uk/stallman/solutions.html
In this modern day and age, we see the word "copyright" being used ever so frequently. Suddenly, almost everything around us seems to be protected by the copyright law, everything from the Happy Birthday song that we sing to even the price list on Best Buy during Black Friday! (Ovalle, 2005) , (Lim, Kevin, Communication 125 lecture, 9/01/2007) However, has anyone ever wondered how the copyright law came about?
The copyright law evolved with the printing press in England during the end of the 15th century. During that time, it was not practical for the author to copy his or her own book, therefore, they "sold" the rights of copying the book to the publishers. Thus, the copyright was considered a non-controversial issue. (Stallman, 2000) However, the copyright law is now in place, mainly to protect the interests of the authors. The law aims to give creators the right to own their creations exclusively, benefit them financially and to encourage authors to create more original works of their own. The copyright law is also more concerned with the primary market, which is the first sale of the material. (Ovalle, 2005)
With the advancement in technology, much information has been available online. Since it is so simple to create information in cyberspace, the information can be subjected to change easily. Digital information sharing between users have also been popular. The illegal sharing of copyrighted materials on peer to peer networks has been rampant, with file sharing being one of the most common online activities. According to statistics, more than 60 million Americans have downloaded music and this number continues to grow rapidly. In the founding year of Napster in 2004 there were more than 9 million simultaneous users on major peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. (Oberholzer-Gee & Strumpf, 2005)
Though it seems that the copyright law is protecting mainly the interests of the authors, the law is actually intended to maintain a balance between the interests of the authors and the public. However, the public has voiced their discontentment as many feel that the authors have been given too much protection and that the law puts them at a disadvantage. Therefore, I feel that there should be some changes made to the copyright law in order to accomadate both the interests of content creators and the public. The "Lehman White Paper", a conference that was held at the University of Oregon, for example states that the copyright laws should never propose that the public trade "all" its freedom to the published works. Both parties, the content creator and the public should benefit from the law. (Stallman, 2000)
Personally, I feel that there is a major change that should be made to the copyright law in order to give maximum benefit to both the parties. The length of the copyright should be reduced. In the US for example, most books that are published are out of print within 3 years, however, the copyright for these books is a whopping 95 years! I do not think that a 95 year copyright is needed, in fact a 10 year copyright from the date of publication will be sufficient. Even amongst the content creators, some authors find that a 10 year copyright is too long. The government should empirically study the length of copyright that is needed to keep the publication active, following which the length of copyright be allocated to the different categories of work. The copyright of movies for example, should last a period of around 20 years. This will also include the rights to sell paraphernalia with the picture of characters on them. The copyright of software should be the shortest, for a period of roughly 3 years. This is because, the software industry is constantly improving and unless the company is in serious trouble, they would have produced a newer version of the software within a period of 3 years. (Stallman, 2000) Therefore, if we shorten the copyright, the public will feel more satisfied and at the same time, the content creators are still being protected.
The next solution that can be adopted in order to accomadate the interests of both parties will be to implement an internet voluntary payment system. There could be a box on the top right hand side of the webpage that indicates to the public that they can click and donate some money to the author if they are satisfied with the piece of work that they are viewing or listening to. Many believe that this system will work very well in the developed and wealthier countries because many people really appreciate their author's work. This can be a way of keeping a "painless kind of copyright for general public that is still of benefit to authors" (Stallman, 2000) In addition, when the public makes these donations to the authors, the creators will know that they are being recognized and this will spur them to create even better work in the future.
In conclusion, we must realise that the issue of copyright law is a very sensitive and thorny problem that the public and the content creators have yet to resolve. The government can come up with many solutions such as the shortening of copyright and the internet voluntary payment system but these solutions will only work if both the content creators and the approach this problem with an open-mind and resolve the problem together.
References:
Ovalle, Carlos (2005). "Information in Cyberspace: Why Copyright?" Retrieved January 31, 2007 from http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~i312co/2.php
Stallman, Richard (2000) "Possible Solutions to Copyright Problems." Retrieved January 31, 2007 from http://www.carnall.demon.co.uk/stallman/solutions.html
Stallman, Richard (2000) "Freedom-Or-Copyright?" Retrieved January 31, 2007 from http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/freedom-or-copyright.html
Strumpf.K and Felix Oberholzer-Gee. (2005). "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis" Retrieved February 1, 2007 from http://www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSharing_June2005_final.pdf
1 comment:
Yes, a painless solution to copyright is key to its acceptance. Great that your quoted class too. Full grades awarded! :)
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