Legal and Justice Book

Archive for the ‘Copyright’ Category

A copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, manipulate and perform her work, and to authorize others to do so.

Anyone who is not the copyright owner and takes advantage of any of these rights for a copyrighted work, without the copyright owner’s permission, is guilty of infringement. The copyright law of the United States addresses infringement, including the penalties for doing so.

Injunction

If a copyright holder files suit for infringement, the court may grant a temporary injunction at any time while the suit is pending.

This injunction may become final at the conclusion of the suit. The injunction is valid throughout the United States and enjoins the alleged copyright violator from continuing infringing.

Impounding and Disposition

At any time while an infringement suit is pending, the court may also order all existing infringed copies of a copyrighted work to be impounded. As part of a final judgment, if infringement is found, the court may order these copies destroyed.

Damages and Profits

A copyright owner is entitled to any actual damages he suffers as a result of the infringement. Any illicit profits that were acquired as a result of the infringement are included in this calculation. Instead of attempting to calculate actual damages, the copyright holder may elect an award of statutory damages, which is subject to the court’s discretion.

Costs and Attorney Fees

In a civil action for infringement, a court can award the full cost of the action to the prevailing party, including attorney fees. The statute does not restrict this award to copyright owners, and courts can also award related costs to a defendant if the plaintiff fails to prove her infringement case. Read the rest of this entry »

You don’t want someone to steal your work and strike it rich. Protect your work with a copyright (an intellectual property law). Only original works of authorship which includes literary, musical, dramatic and artistic work —poems, songs, computer software, novels and architecture—are protected by a copyright.

The U.S. Copyright office regulates who is eligible to copyright, how long the copyright last and the penalties enforced for committing copyright infringement.

Copyright Basics

Before you copyright your work, you need to know the basics. Ideas, facts, methods of operation, or systems are not protected under the copyright law. The way they are expressed, however, may be copyrighted. The work you copyright must be your original work.

If more than one author exists, you both must file for a copyright together unless a legal agreement exists between you that states otherwise. Having a copyright gives you the right to reproduce or distribute your work in copies or phonorecords.

Transferring, selling, renting, leasing or lending out your works is entirely up to you. You may perform your work publicly (applies to audio visual work, pantomimes, motion pictures, literary, musical and choreographed works).

An individual that is on a work-for-hire basis is not the author of the work, the employer that hired him is the original author and may apply for a copyright of the work.

Length of Copyright

Copyrights are not required, but obtaining a copyright helps to prove ownership of your work. If someone steals or uses your work without your permission, it is helpful to have a copyright registration to prove when you created your work and had it legally registered.

Copyright registrations do not last forever. Work created on or after January 1, 1978 is automatically copyrighted once it has been created according to the Copyright Clearance Center.

The copyright term is valid through the duration of the author’s life, plus an additional 70 years after his death. Most authors leave the copyrighted material to the ownership of a business partner, family member or friend, who then decides what to do with ownership of the copyright in the case the original author dies. Read the rest of this entry »

A violation of copyright law is known as “infringement.” Many copyright holders file suit against accused infringers in federal court simply to cease the infringing activity.

However, if infringement is proved, the copyright holder can also receive monetary damages.

Injuctive Relief

If an accused infringer makes available for public sale an unauthorized work, such as a bootlegged music CD, the court may issue an injunction ordering the infringer to stop selling unauthorized copies.

Seizure of Infringing Copies

A court can also order the bootlegged CDs to be impounded to prevent the accused infringer of selling them pending the outcome of a trial.

If a final judgment is rendered in favor of the copyright holder, the court may order the CDs to be destroyed.

Compenatory (Actual) Damages

A copyright holder can sue an alleged infringer for compensatory damages, which is the actual amount of money the copyright holder lost as a result of the infringement through sales or other revenue. To prove actual damages, a copyright holder must show the court that the infringement resulted in a loss of gross income.

Statutory Damages

Instead of suing for actual damages, a copyright holder can sue for statutory damages. Under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, these are limited to no less than $750 and no more than $30,000 per infringement of one creative work. Read the rest of this entry »

When a copyright is violated, a copyright holder can ask a court of law to grant an injunction against an individual or entity that is infringing on a copyright.

A copyright holder can also seek monetary or statutory damages for the violation of copyright.

If the infringer is found guilty by a court of law, there are criminal penalties that can be leveled against the infringer.

Injunctions

A temporary injunction prohibits an individual or an entity from continuing to violate copyright until a trial or other court action is taken.

A permanent injunction is a final court order that prohibits an individual or an entity from permanently violating copyright.

Monetary Damages

Actual damages are the actual losses experienced by a copyright holder when a copyright is violated.

Profits are the money earned by the individual or entity when a copyright is violated.

Statutory Damages

A copyright holder can request statutory damages, which are calculated per work infringed.

In “innocent infringement,” the range of statutory damages is $200 to $150,000 per work.

In “willful infringement,” the range of statutory damages is $750 to $300,000 per work.
When Statutory Damages Are Not Available

Statutory damages are not available if the work is unpublished and the copyright violation took place before the effective date of registration.

Statutory damages are not available for published works if the copyright violation took place after the first publication and before the effective date of registration. Read the rest of this entry »