Copyright laws are defined by countries yet we operate in a world where media is global in reach. Complexity ensues.
Photo placed into the public domain by Slava Bowman using CC0
Charade is a classic American film starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant that opened in 1963. Breaking ground as a movie spanning three genres - thriller, romance, and comedy - the film is notable for another important reason.
Because Universal Pictures published the movie with an invalid copyright notice, the film entered the public domain in the United States immediately upon its release (wikipedia). Because the film is in the public domain, you can watch it online in its entirety from Wikipedia as well as YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7s0H9Qz168
"Charade 1963 720p Full Movie"" is shared into the public domain
Should a technicality like this prevent a major motion picture from being protected by copyright? What if the technicalities for providing the copyright notice differed from country to country? Wouldn’t things be easier for everyone involved if the process for getting copyright protection was simplified and harmonized across countries? Are there valid reasons for copyright to differ from country to country?
- Give examples of international copyright baselines (e.g. Berne Convention)
- Understand moral rights and other rights situated alongside copyright
- Understand local copyright
Have you ever missed an important opportunity because of a technicality? Maybe you misread the directions on an important test? Or maybe you didn’t format the resume you submitted for a job exactly the way the employer asked? Have you ever wished that things could just be simpler?
Have you ever told someone “be careful what you wish for?”
Watch the YouTube video from #FixCopyright to understand the basic history of copyright and its relation to creativity and sharing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fdUDecJ6jc
"#FixCopyright: Copy (aka copyright) Tells the Story of His Life" by FixCopyright is licensed under CC BY
While copyright law was originally tailored to local laws and customs, over the years there has been harmonisation of copyright provisions--meaning that most copyright law is quite similar in most of the world. This has taken place through the ratification and implementation of international copyright treaties and agreements. Read up on these agreements, such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) Berne Convention, and the World Trade Organisation’s TRIPS Agreement. Explore the role of WIPO in international copyright policymaking, including a recently-ratified treaty on access to copyright works for the visually impaired.
"The signatories of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works as of 2012" licensed CC BY-SA
Through the ratification of international copyright agreements, "copyright formalities" have been mostly harmonised.
Copyright formalities are legal requirements that an author needs to undertake in order to receive copyright protection for a work they create. Review several of these copyright formalities, including registration, renewal, notice, and deposit.
From country to country, the duration of copyright is also quite similar. Review the Wikipedia pages on copyright term, and view the page that lists the the duration of copyright based on country.
"World Copyright Terms" by Balfour Smith licensed CC BY
There are types of rights that operate in parallel with copyright. One of these is moral rights, which are generally understood as a right of attribution above and beyond intellectual property rights. Read about moral rights to understand how it is different than copyright.
Select at least 2 or 3 resources directly relevant to your personal or work related CC needs from the Acquiring Basic Knowledge content and add them to your personal Creative Commons toolkit. Adding them to your toolkit makes it easy to find and use them when the need arises and makes it easy for you to pass on resources you consider important to others. Add comments explaining relevancy and importance.
In the CC Certificate social forum post your answers to the personal reflection questions posed at the start of this learning unit. Identify and comment on posts from at least two others who have similar needs or ideas.
Complete the following activity in the Quest Bank:
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Except where otherwise noted, this content is published under a CC BY license, which means that you can copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon the content for any purpose even commercially as long as you give appropriate credit and provide a link to the license.
Recommended attribution:
"Global Aspects of Copyright" by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Available at
https://github.com/creativecommons/cc-cert-lib/blob/master/contents/copyright/global.md
Creative Commons Certificates have been created as a project of Creative Commons with the kind support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
These certificates are part of the commons; if you find broken links or any other errors you can help by reporting them as an issue.