The Extension of Copyright is Necessary to Protect the Rights of Artists and Ensure Future Creativity

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Like the famous Pablo Picasso once said: “Bad artists copy. Good artists steal” (Whittaker 2008, p.131). The focus of this essay is on copyright and the laws and legislations that are put in place to uphold this right. The presence of copyright is necessary particularly focusing on intellectual property rights in film, and whether it should be put in place not only to protect the rights of the artists but also to promote future creativity in the industry. The definition of copyright is the exclusive rights to produce copies and to control literary, musical, or artistic work for a number of years; within the United Kingdom this is 70 years from the artist or producers death or from the date of publication if later. In this context we are considering, it is in film and whether the laws put in place do protect the artists and the works that they have produced.

As we look at the origins of copyright in the UK we see that it was originally set out to protect the authors work in the early part of the 18th Century from an artistic approach but by the end of the century it had changed to not only protect the workings of the author but also to protect the exclusive right of the publication itself. This meant that the persons holding the publication rights would also have copyright to protect the publications they print, As Patterson states:

“Copyright, in short, was to become a concept to embrace all the right to be had in connection with published works, either by the author or publisher… the changed made copyright monopolistic in a way the stationer’s copyright had never been.” (1968, p.155.)

This change in the law is still visible today and could be why copyright laws can be seen to be problematic, as it is not only just looking a...

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