Copyright Law

When you create something original, it is your intellectual property, and you retain rights for it for a limited time. For some types of rights (most notably copyright), protection is automatic but formal registration is available in some countries; for patent, on the other hand, registration is required for protection.

No; they should be prosecuted for copyright infringement.

No ideas are not necessarily under copyright law.

If you publish it on the web, a book, and/or record it, the copyright is yours but the "idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery" you have described is free of any copyright.

Some ideas can be protected to the limited extent that they are implemented in a patented invention. Other ideas are protected merely by keeping them secret.

Copyright gives the rightsholder the exclusive right to copy, alter, distribute, or perform/display the work. Anyone else doing this without their permission is violating their rights.

Uploading a file is both copying and distributing, and downloading it is copying.

The intent of the 1709 Statute of Anne was "for the encouragement of learning."

Prior to the Statute of Anne, a "copy right" was basically a printing license used primarily as a form of censorship. This was eliminated with the overthrow of James II, leading to an increase in printing, but without fair remuneration for the writers. Thus, when copyright re-emerged, the right was given to authors rather than printers, both to encourage new writing and to avoid the appearance of censorship.

The primary impact that copyright has on school work is the difficulty in establishing what copyrighted materials are permitted to use, what qualifies as "fair use", and what is not permitted to use even for educational purposes.

It depends what kind of business they're in. If they make money by creating, licensing, or selling copyrighted products (publishers, movie studios, record labels), they're in trouble if someone starts infringing on them. Printers and CD/DVD duplicators are also careful to ensure that the projects they're given aren't infringing. Small businesses, especially restaurants, can be put out of business by an ASCAP "sting" if they aren't properly licensing music being played in their establishments.

Law firms specializing in IP, on the other hand, think it's lovely.

Works of sufficient originality are automatically protected by copyright as soon as they are fixed in a tangible medium. If formal registration is available in your country, you may choose to do that as well, but it is not required. If you are creating logos to be used in business, you may wish to register them trademarks.

Copyright law gives an author, composer, or artist several exclusive rights: copy, publish, distribute, perform, make derivative works, etc., depending upon the type of work.

Information technology (especially digitization) has made the process of copying, publishing and distributing digital copies very inexpensive. New forms of media have been created, raising new questions of law: does a user of a computer have additional inherent rights to make copies of software or other files during computer operations?

On the electronic side of IT, microscopic integrated circuit technology became extremely valuable and so-called "mask works" (for creating the functional layers of semiconductors) were found to be not subject to copyright because of their functional nature. A new type of statutory protection was created, outside of copyright, to protect these expensive artworks from illegal copying.

Digital audio tapes (and later media) spawned an entirely new way of making and distributing copies of sound recordings, including copyrighted music. New methods were created for collecting and sharing the royalty revenue, and for protection against bootleg copies. New laws were created to cover digital piracy, copy protection, and the information related to copies (the author, date, owner, license terms, etc).

The rapid spread of the internet, particularly the www protocols in the early 1990s, made nearly everyone with a computer a potential publisher. On the flip side, every "web browser" automatically downloads a copy of a "web page", as part of its normal operation to display the information the author has published, under a newly "implied license" to make copies, at least for personal use. New questions arose regarding the distinctions between having authorized an infinite number of copies and having no protection for what recipients can do with those copies.

A large segment of the population began to confuse or conflate the concepts that "anyone can have one for free" and "public domain."

Trade related intellectual property rights became increasingly important in international relations. New questions arose regarding harmonization of copyright laws, jurisdiction over online copying in "cyberspace", and the issues related to automatic translations and limits on converting copies to new types of storage media.

As faster network speeds became economical and protocols more efficient, the new channels were quickly filled with new media: online music, video, photographs. A new wave of treaties and statutes will attempt to rationalize the royalties with modern copying and distribution means.

Rightsholders are strongly encouraged to settle with infringers for real damages. However if the case reaches the court, the minimum fine is 2000 ringgit, and can be as high as 20,000 ringgit and five years in prison for each infringement.

The criteria that has to be considered before something can be judged to be "fair use" includes...

1) The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2) The nature of the copyrighted work
3)The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4)The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

Deliberately bypassing technology put in place to protect copyrighted material is illegal under terms of Section 1201 (Circumvention of copyright protection systems) of the Digtal Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

"(a) VIOLATIONS REGARDING CIRCUMVENTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES- (1)(A) No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title"

Additionally if WikiAnswers were to provide you with information which would allow copyright to be bypassed, there is the possibility of a charge of contributory infringement. In Felton v RIAA: Corley v. Universal the mere posting of a link to a computer program that can be used to circumvent technical protection measures was held to be a violation of the DMCA. [Universal v. Corley (2d Ciruit cite)]

What are the effects of right-to-work laws on union membership?

Technology makes transmission of copyright-protected materials cheaper and easier than ever before, meaning that copyright infringement is cheaper and easier as well. Copyright law has never kept pace with technological advancement, so it's often left to the user to try to decide whether a new way of using materials aligns with the intent of the law.

There are two major flaws in the current copyright laws. Terms are far too long effectively "locking down" a work forever. Reverse engineering, even when it would be to the public benefit, is still forbidden.

The sale of a copyright results in an "assignment" of the intellectual property rights embodied in the copyright, not to mention the power to enforce those rights. This may vary, depending upon what country you're in, the type of material copyrighted (literature, sound recordings, sculpture, etc), and depending upon how old the material is, whether you are aware of any pre-existing infringements, whether the copyright is already registered, if there are any joint owners, whether it is a "work for hire," etc.

Because of the potential complexities involved, it may be wise to seek competent legal counsel. An intellectual property attorney will help you explore the value of your rights, various alternatives to "sale," such as exclusive or non-exclusive licenses, and assist in preparing the necessary papers to carry out your informed wishes.

if a juvenial 5 years with a fine of 250,000

without bail

Copyright law was amended with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and there are now provisions for criminal prosecution of "willful and deliberate" infringements with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Aside from the "fair use" exception , and allowances made for "right of 1st sale" and libraries, archives, etc. copyright law gives the rights owner absolute control over their intellectual property.

Five basic rights are conveyed to the author. They are the ability to control duplication, display, performance, distribution and creation of derivative works.

In the United States, anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed.

In addition, an infringer of a work may also be liable for the attorney's fees incurred by the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights

There are also provisions for criminal prosecution of infringement and, although rare, they can carry penalties of up to $250,000.000 USD as well as 10 years in prison.

They are supposed to boost creativity in people and restrict you from copying other inventions and works. Primarily, they give exclusive rights to the authors, and bring them tons of money - if their works prove to be useful.

Copyright law protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works. It can include poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect names, titles, common words/phrases, facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation

Unfortunately, simply being educational doesn't necessarily make a use fair. A common issue with research papers today is when universities have a policy of entering them into digital repositories; charts, images, and other content that would likely be considered fair in the conext of a single copy of a physical paper being handed in to a professor are suddenly being made widely available online through such repositories.

1987.