Is copyright a good thing?


Generally copyright is a good thing because it was designed to protect creators’ ownership of their works, and at the same time make explicit what people are permitted to do with the works.  But, like all relationships, things can get complicated!  Read on …

The nitty gritty of Copyright

Copyright is an automatic and exclusive right. This means that an author or creator obtains the right as soon as the work has been ‘fixed’ without the author having to claim or assert their right.

The objective of creating a set of rules – or the copy rights of a creator - was to incentivise and encourage creativity and innovation. This has worked well. But in more recent years, copyright has become a contentious issue with the arrival of the internet. Now, like never before, we the public have access to media and information and to channels that allow us to create, share and copy material in a digital format. Just think of channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Zoopy and Flickr. This is a world not even conceived of when our copyright act came into being in 1978. What were you doing in 1978? Certainly not downloading songs from the internet! So, the copyright act needs to be updated to reflect the modern world in which we live in order to not only protect and incentivise creators, but to fairly represent the reality of consumers.

The FAQs of the matter

What is eligible and how do you get copyright?

The following works are eligible for copyright:

Uploaded to Flicrk by Mecredis under Creative Commons licence, CC BY 2.0

Uploaded to Flick by Mecredis under Creative Commons licence, CC BY 2.0

  • Literary works
  • musical works
  • artistic works
  • sound recordings
  • cinematograph films (ie movies)
  • broadcasts (ie television)
  • programme-carrying signals
  • published editions of works
  • computer programs.

The work has to be original and needs to be written down.  In other words, if you’ve got a great tune in your head and you’ve hummed it to someone, it isn’t eligible for copyright until you’ve written down the musical notes or score.  Once its written there is automatic copyright.  Hey,you could have jotted it down on a serviette in a coffee shop … the moment it is written down, or fixed, then you own a copyrighted work.

What does it mean?

Copyright gives the creator (or rightful owner if the creator has given ownership to someone else such as a publisher) exclusive rights.  It’s important for everyone to know what those exclusive rights are so that you know your rights as a creator.  Also, as a user or consumer of the work, you know what you may or may not legally do with the work.  If you do anything with the work that is reserved as an exclusive right of the copyright holder, then you are infringing copyright.  In other words, you are breaking the law.

What are these exclusive rights?

The exclusive rights of copyright-holders means the rights that are automatically granted to them and them alone.

  • REPRODUCE (Literary or musical works, artistic works, movies, broadcasts, published editions, comuter programs)
  • PUBLISH (Literary or musical works, artistic works, movies, computer programs)
  • BROADCAST (Literary or musical works, artistic works, movies, sound recordings, broadcasts, computer programs)
  • PERFORM (Literary or musical works, computer programs)
  • ADAPT (Literary or musical works, artistic works, movies, computer programs)
  • TRANSMIT (Literary or musical works, artistic works, movies, sound recordings, broadcasts, computer programs)
  • HIRE OUT (Movies, sound recordings, computer programs)
  • MAKE A RECORDING (Sound recordings, computer programs)
  • PLAY THE RECORDING IN PUBLIC (Sound recordings)
  • DISTRIBUTE (Programme carrying signals)

How long does it last?

In South Africa copyright lasts for the lifetime of the author plus an additional 50 years from the end of the year in which the author dies.

US first edition cover, from Wikpedia. Source: http://search.abaa.org/dbp2/book1602_022499.html

Here’s an example:
Alan Paton wrote Cry the Beloved Country in 1948.  He died in 1988.  So the exclusive rights for Cry the Beloved Country, entitled to Alan Paton will last until 2038.

In effect, copyright for this work would have been for a duration of 40 years (during his lifetime) plus 50 years after his death which equals 90 years.

After this time, the work will fall into the public domain.

That means if you are 30 years old today, you will be a sprightly 68 when Cry the Beloved Country falls into the public domain.