Everything published in the United States before 1923 is in the public domain in the United States. Everything created by authors who died more than 70 years ago is in the public domain in almost every country other than the United States. Thus, classic works of literature like the complete works of William Shakespeare are in the public domain throughout the world (as well as 80,000 Shakespearean illustrations). When a work enters the public domain you are free to use it any way you want without obtaining permission from anyone. This means you are free to read from Romeo and Juliet or any other work of Shakespeare (or any author published before 1923 in the U.S.) in your film. Answered by Stephen Fishman, author of The Public Domain.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Reading Passages of Classic Literature in Movie
Everything published in the United States before 1923 is in the public domain in the United States. Everything created by authors who died more than 70 years ago is in the public domain in almost every country other than the United States. Thus, classic works of literature like the complete works of William Shakespeare are in the public domain throughout the world (as well as 80,000 Shakespearean illustrations). When a work enters the public domain you are free to use it any way you want without obtaining permission from anyone. This means you are free to read from Romeo and Juliet or any other work of Shakespeare (or any author published before 1923 in the U.S.) in your film. Answered by Stephen Fishman, author of The Public Domain.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Can I Make Audiobooks for Private Use?
Monday, January 26, 2015
Nonprofit Wants to Translate Screenplay
The copyright laws apply to nonprofits the same way they do to for-profit enterprises. When a person creates a work like a screenplay, he or she automatically obtains a bundle of exclusive copyright rights in the work. These include the exclusive right to adapt the work into a new medium or translate it into a new language. Thus, you can’t adapt a screenplay into a stage play or translate it into Italian without obtaining permission from the copyright owner. The fair use rule does not apply to the adaptation of an entire work into a new medium. Answered by Stephen Fishman, author of The Copyright Handbook.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Wants to Control Use of Video and Photos of Workshops
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Can I Make a 90's Blog Using TV Images?
The fair use privilege allows the public to make limited use of copyrighted works without obtaining permission from the copyright owners. One of the reasons for fair use is to encourage criticism and comment on copyrighted works. Quoting or excerpting a work in a review is a classic example of a fair use. Including a picture of a work you’re reviewing is also a good example of a fair use—this is done all the time in reviews. So long as you don’t use any more of the works involved than is necessary for your reviews, your intended use of works from the 1990s in your blog should qualify as a fair use. That said, not every copyright owner understands or agrees with the fair use rule, and some may complain even though your use is allowed by the copyright law.
Answered by Stephen Fishman, author of The Copyright Handbook.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Does Netflix TOS Trump Copyright Law?
It's true that Terms of Service (TOS) and End User License Agreements (EULAs), if properly executed, are considered legally enforceable and can force copyright law to the curb. But we can't say for sure how it would play out as no court appears to have addressed whether a license can defeat the educational exemption in Section 110. More importantly, the reader noted that when he contacted Netflix, they readily agreed with his educational use. That makes good legal and public relations sense. No company wants a Macarena on their hands!
Friday, January 16, 2015
Can I Video My Dedication to Public Domain?
Courts have held that a copyright owner may dedicate a work to the public domain simply by manifesting the intent to do so through an overt act. A signed document is not absolutely required. Thus, including a statement in a video that the work is dedicated to the public domain would likely be sufficient. However, to avoid possible disputes and misunderstandings, it is always best for the copyright owner to sign a document dedicating the work involved to the public domain. Such a document need not be long or fancy. The Copyright Office says that it need only:
- identify the work involved--preferably including the author(s), title(s), and registration number(s) for the work (if any)
- provide the copyright owner’s full name and state that such person is the current owner of the copyright in the work
- state “I the copyright owner of this work, hereby release it into the public domain,” and
- be signed by the copyright owner or co-owners or by an authorized representative.
Answered by Steve Fishman, author of The Public Domain.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Can Musician Terminate Management Contract?
The artist can't arbitrarily terminate the contract simply because he's had some success and wants out. He'll need to come up with a a valid legal basis.
What's a valid legal basis to terminate? If you failed to honor a material term of the agreement, for example you deliberately failed to account to the musician for royalties and wouldn't correct the error, the musician could say, “That’s it, we’re done,” and terminate based on the material breach. In that case, the musician may have a reason to stop honoring the agreement. (This approach is sometimes employed when under-age musicians disaffirm management deals.) But if the reason is bunk -- a lawyer is just trying to bully you with legal hocus-pocus -- you may need an attorney's help to stop the insanity. If you prevail in a dispute, you would be entitled to payment of damages (usually what you would have received if the contract were performed). Claims of breach in management contracts are often preludes to settlement. In other words, how much will it cost the musician to buy his way out of the contract? (BTW, a more peaceful way to terminate would be if your management contract contains provisions that trigger termination or provide a right to terminate at will or under certain conditions, for example if the term -- the period of a time during which the contract is in force -- has ended.) Finally, as to using the musician's name and image, that may depend on whether the management agreement stands or falls.
What about the co-writing and co-ownership? It's tough to tell what your rights are as a co-writer or co-owner. The traditional rule is that any co-owner of a copyright can exploit the copyright (sell it or license it) as long as the other co-owners are compensated. But those rules may be trumped by your agreement -- for example, you may have agreed otherwise, or you both may have assigned the song copyrights to a publisher or the sound recording copyright to the indie label and established rules as to how that material can be used. In short, you need to consult with a lawyer. If you're low on funds, perhaps there is a lawyers-for-the-arts group in your area.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Who Owns My Radio Show?
We don't know what kind of show you had -- music, interviews, monologues -- but you probably own the copyright to the content that you created -- that is, the material that you would read if the show was transcribed. (In addition, you may own a sound recording copyright to the audio production.) That's assuming (1) you didn't sign any agreements with the station, and (2) you were not an employee of the station. Even if you own copyright, the station (for which you volunteered) likely acquired an implied license to broadcast or archive the show. If, however, you co-created the content or sound recording with employees of the station you would be a co-owner of copyright which means that your co-owner (the station) can make use and reproduce the content provided it accounts to you.
Who can make new shows? Going forward, we're less interested in copyright law and more interested in trademark law. The primary trademark -- in this case, the name of the show -- has a great deal of value (or goodwill) because that's what listeners associate with the program. But who has legal rights to the trademark? Typically, the first business to use the name in commerce usually owns the mark. In the case of a radio show, it would usually be the company that produces the show. That may be you or it may be the station; we don't have enough details to say with certainty but if we were a betting blog, we might bet on the radio station. However, if the station is merely a web service for distributing the show -- for example, something like libsyn.org -- you would retain trademark rights. The same trademark rules would apply of the show's format, which could possibly be considered to be trade dress, a form of trademark.
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