Copyright infringement

Copyright infringement

In general terms, copyright provides an author with a tool to protect a work from being taken, used, and exploited by others without permission (Roseoner 1). This is further defined in federal statute 17 U.S.C. Section 106. The owner of the copyrighted work has the exclusive right to authorize any of the following:

- to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies

- to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work

- to distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public

- to display the copyrighted work in a public setting

There have been many underlying forces that have shaped the copyright law in our legal system today. Tensions have always existed between the rights of the public versus the rights of the artist. The term of copyright imposes limitations on the public and weighs in favor of the artist. Of course, the irony of this, is the fact that the public’s appreciation of a particular work of art extends well beyond the life of the original artist. The system of copyright law have, and will, continue to change. New means to create, store, and deliver art, place access to and use of all imagery, perhaps on the model of a compulsory license which means that the copyright owner has no right to prevent the use of copyrighted work. Copyright owners may not have the right to control usage, but they do receive a fee fixed either by voluntary arrangements or government assistance.

We know that the history of copyright began with, and manifested by, the printed word. But, images are just as susceptible to plagiaristic acts. In the early 1700’s, artist, William Hogarth and others, petitioned the English parliament to extend copyright protection to pictures and prints. Hogarth was ...

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...ng at any image that is truly ‘original’. Ultimately, those viewing the image only on-screen will be missing a presence that cannot be reproduced or adequately expressed in words. It is the same kind of unquantifiable experience that is rapidly disappearing from so many facets of modern life.

Works Cited

Crawford, Tad. Legal Guide for the Visual Artist. New York: Allworth

Press, 1999.

Garmil-Jones, Katherine. The Wired Museum. Washington DC: American

Association of Museums, 1997.

Hind, Arthur M., A History of engraving and etching from the 15th

Century to the year 1914. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.,

1963.

Rosenoer, Jonathan. Cyberlaw: The Law of the Internet. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1997.

http:\www.computerworld.com/home/news.nsf/CWFlash/9810143copy

http:\www.nolo.com/ChunkPCT/PCT23.HTML

http://mail.bris.ac.uk/~lijeh/ftcopy.htm