cdmandrews.github.io

Notes and Overview for Week 11

ENGL 3301, Fall 2021

Copyright and TPC

Read the following short pices:

• “Ethics and copyright law” section of Chapter 3: Ethics in Technical Communication
• WritingCommons.org article “Copyright and Writing”
• “Copyright and technical writing” article by Tanya Vasto

Pay attention to the following keywords as you’re reading that material:

• educational use
• commercial use
• fair use
• public domain
• copyright
• copyright infringement
• work made for hire

A few essentials of Copyright and Fair use:

Disclaimer: We can’t cover all of copyright law in a week or two. There are all sorts of related issues (such as DMCA) that we just can’t really get to but that I encourage you to think about. As with many such legal questions, copyright law is all carefully negotiated and constructed, and changes as our society changes. That’s part of why it’s so frustrating to keep track of.

What is copyright?

Copyright falls under the aegis of the US Congress. Congress has the power: “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries” (US Constitution Art I, Sec. 8). Today, copyright protections are codified and provided for in the Copyright Act of 1976 (which has been amended a number of times) and the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Copyright is:

• a protection intended to expand, stimulate, and protect the creation of authored works by giving authors the right to prevent others from copying and thus exploiting their work.
• technically a limitation of free speech; the doctrine of fair use is intended to deal with this limitation.

This relationship between protection and limitation is tricky. Copyright law is intended to inspire creation and productivity by making creation economically viable, but it does so by limiting creation and setting up a system that occasionally rubs our oversimplifications of the concept of free speech the wrong way.

What exclusive rights do copyright holders have?

Copyright holders, when they publish their works, have exclusive right to:

• reproduction,
• creation of derivative works,
• distribution,
• performance,
• display

This protection is only for a certain amount of time (though each successive revision of copyright law has managed to extend the term that copyright holders have exclusive rights to their creations before they become part of the public domain). In the US:

• In the first version of the law, copyright was 28 years (with possible extension of 28 years that one could apply for).
• In 1976, this was raised to the author’s life +50 years, or 75 years for works made for hire.
• In 1998, this was raised to the author’s life +70 years, or 95 years for works made for hire.

Note: authors are not necessarily copyright holders. Copyright can be sold or contracted away in an agreement, such as “work for hire.” The creators of many famous comic book characters, for example, hold no copyright on their creations; publishing companies hold exclusive rights to their creations.

What is protected by copyright?

• literary, musical, and dramatic works
• pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• audiovisual works and sound recordings
• choreographic works
• architectural works
• derivative works

What is not protected by copyright?

• ideas, facts, data
• logos/taglines
• works created by the government
• works in the public domain (any work published on or before December 31, 1922)

Works in the public domain are works whose original copyright protections have expired or that were created before applicable copyright protections. Creators may also forfeit their copyright or decide to donate something to the public domain. Works in the public domain may be freely used by anyone for any purpose without restriction.

For Tuesday

Participate in the “Do the right thing 1: Copyright/IP” discussion forum in your group by 5:00 pm on Tuesday. After you respond to the prompt below, go in and discuss and respond with two or three other folx in your group.

Go back and look at a previous assignment in this class where you used images that you got from the internet (your fact sheet is a likely choice, but if you didn’t use images in your fact sheet, look back at another thing you wrote for this class where you used images). Write reflectively and analytically (but keep it informal, yo) about the following:

1. What kinds of images did you use (describe them briefly, so folks know what you’re talking about)
2. How did you find them? Where did you find them?
3. Were the images you used protected by copyright, were they public domain, or were they available for creative commons sharing?
4. Now be honest: Did you infringe on someone else’ copyright?
5. If you were really going to make that handout for your employer, what would you need to do to use it?
6. Think ahead: what are some situations in your future profession (or maybe your current one) where you might need to make a choice regarding copyright infringement?

For Thursday

No assignment is due this Thursday; work on research and invention for your 2nd major project. If you’re stuck, lost, or have questions, schedule an appointment with Dr Andrews and get some HELP!

Looking ahead

During Week 12 we’ll turn to evaluating the idea of “professionalism” and whatever it means to “be professional.” You’ll also share a progress report on your project. I will provide a template.