Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Neighbouring rights a possible way forward.


Copyrights & Neighboring Rights
By David Carnes, eHow Contributor

This is taken from e.how I felt it gave an interesting general overview to copyright and the current ways round it. I am particularly interested in the concept of Neighboring Rights which may well suit the regulation of copyright within a transmedial space.



Copyrights are the fundamental legal device by which certain exclusive rights to original works of authorship are protected. Neighboring rights are rights granted under some legal regimes (such as Japan's) that are extended to non-authors who are closely connected to the production of the copyrighted work.

Requirements for Copyright Protection
In most countries there are only three main requirements for copyright protection: The object of protection must be an original work, it must be artistic or semi-artistic in nature, and it must be expressed in a tangible medium. Books, paintings and music recordings are protected along with maps, drawings, reference works, photographs and software programs, among others. Some countries require registration or copyright notification on published copies.

Exclusive Rights
The holder of a copyright holds the exclusive right to produce, distribute, perform, exhibit and adapt the work. She may also sell or license the copyright to others.

Loopholes
Anyone may use a small part of a work that is copyrighted without paying royalties, as long as they properly attribute the work to the copyright holder (known as "fair use"). It is also permissible to sell second-hand copies of copyrighted works with no need to pay royalties, under the "first sale" exception. An author may sell his copyright to someone else before the work is even created, in which case it becomes a "work for hire" and the buyer is treated as the original author (even if the buyer is a corporation).

Public Domain
Copyrights expire after a certain date, after which the work enters the public domain and may be freely used by anyone. Expiration dates vary according to jurisdiction, but generally extend several decades past the death of the author. If the author is considered to be a corporation, the copyright may endure for a century or more after its creation.

Neighboring Rights
Neighboring rights, which do not exist in every jurisdiction, are granted to certain parties who are not authors of the copyrighted work but who are intimately connected to the work in some way. Neighboring rights are granted to performers, broadcasters, phonograph producers, and electronic transmitters of a copyrighted work. The rationale is that these parties either add original artistic content to a particular expression of a work or participate in the distribution of it, and that these acts are entitled to protection.
Examples of neighboring rights include the right to indicate the name of the performer, the right to control the act of broadcasting live performances, and the right to control the act of reproducing transmitted programs. Neighboring rights arise automatically (without registration or notification) when the act that triggers them (such as a live broadcast) occurs, and typically expire several decades later (50years under Japanese law). The United States has no defined concept of neighboring rights.




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