Defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, copyright is an exclusive law, which protects the creative works of an individual for a fixed amount of time. Copyright laws have been implemented worldwide to limit the use of copies of an existing work without making compensation to the creative originator for their ‘intellectual labor’. However, copyright does not protect an idea but the form of expression. Nowadays, the regulation of copyright material has become increasingly difficult with the introduction of multimedia. Which includes text, images, sound and video.
For example, Mickey Mouse. With the passing of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, this increased 20 years to the title of aged works, including the copyright of Mickey Mouse. The passing of this act would mean that 1923 creations would continue to be preserved under the law of copyright until 2019. These copyright works from 1923 are now universal property, meaning everybody now holds the right to republish or modify these works.
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In Australia, the law of copyright is maintained under the Copyright Act 1986. Within this act, creators are provided with the motivation to produce new works and a legal structure which places jurisdiction over their works. Copyright is free of cost and applies conditionally when material is produced. Under the law of copyright in Australia, text (including books and journal articles), images, video (including film), audio recordings (music recordings) and computer software are all preserved by copyright.
A famous example of copyright is Vanilla Ice’s 1990 ‘Ice Ice Baby’ and Queen and David Bowie’s 1982 ‘Under Pressure’. The issue in this situation was that Vanilla Ice copied certain parts of the 1982 hit without crediting the primary creators. The result was that Vanilla Ice decided to pay Queen and Bowie in royalties and all members of Queen and David Bowie have been given songwriting accredit to the 1990’s hit, ‘Ice Ice Baby’.
However, not all materials are restricted by copyright, materials which are copy-left and royalty free are assessable within the universal domain. Creative Commons is an international non-profit organization that provides free licenses and tools that copyright owners can use to allow others to share, reuse and remix their material, legally. Creative Commons is just one of many organizations which offer royalty free materials for the public domain to utilize.
In conclusion, copyright is a form of intellectual property. Individuals are owed the right to have their creations protected, and under the law of copyright allows individuals to utilize material how they choose.
Bibliography
- Athique, A., 2013. Digital Media and Society: An Introduction. Polity, Cambridge.
- Australian Copyright Council, 2019. 'An Introduction to Copyright in Australia’. Viewed 1 November, https://www.copyright.org.au/acc_prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/An_Introduction_to_Copyright_in_Australia.aspx
- Creative Commons, n.d. Creative Commons. Viewed 1 November, https://creativecommons.org
- Flew, T., 2014. New Media (4th ed.). Oxford, South Melbourne.
- Killelea, A., 2016. 'As Ed Sheeran Is Sued for Copyright Infringements, Here Are Ten Other Artists Used for ‘Stealing’ Hits’. Viewed 1 November, https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/ed-sheeran-sued-copyright-infringement-8147915
- Lee, T., 2019. ‘Mickey Mouse Will Be Public Domain Soon – Here’s What that Means’. Viewed 1 November, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/a-whole-years-worth-of-works-just-fell-into-the-public-domain/
- Lexico, 2019. ‘Definition of Copyright in English’. Viewed 1 November, https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/copyright
- Pearson, M., 2012. 'Blogging and Tweeting Without Getting Sued: A Global Guide to the Law for Anyone Writing Online'. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest.
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