1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, Jonathan Strickland. Here. No normal intro for today. 3 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: We're gonna do a rerun because I'm under the weather 4 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: and it's a crazy holiday week with Thanksgiving week here 5 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: in in the United States, and uh, it just all 6 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: my efforts to put together a new episode kind of 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: fell apart. But I do plan on having a news 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: episode tomorrow, and in the meantime, I didn't want to 9 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: leave you without anything. So I looked back on last 10 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,480 Speaker 1: year and there was this episode about copyright and fair 11 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: use I did, and I thought, hey, I'm gonna essentially 12 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: plagiarize myself and copy myself, so why not do the 13 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: copyright and fair use episode. It originally published on May one. 14 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: I think it's an important topic to really educate yourself 15 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: about in the tech space in particular, as uh, the 16 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: Internet in general and the Web really specifically have created 17 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: the foundation for rampant copyright abuse. And you know there 18 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: are multiple sites that story. So let's listen to this 19 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: episode that published last year on copyright and fair use, 20 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: and I'll chat with you again really soon. It has 21 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: been a while since I've done an episode about the 22 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:33,400 Speaker 1: concepts of copyright and fair use. And after I keep 23 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: seeing the phrase no copyright infringement intended over and over 24 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: on places like YouTube and Instagram, I figure it's a 25 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: good time to tackle this again. Because people continue to 26 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: pretend like copyright infringement only applies under very specific circumstances 27 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: and that with just a little bit of verbiage you 28 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: can get around it, when really the opposite is true. 29 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: And since the Internet and technology allows for more opportunities 30 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 1: for a copyright infringement, and because various governments and around 31 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: the world have passed legislation to you know, specifically tackle 32 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:18,679 Speaker 1: copyright infringement, and companies have lobbied endlessly for more restrictive 33 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: copyright rules, I think it fits the scope of tech stuff, 34 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: particularly since a lot of these laws were formed in 35 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: reaction to changes in technology. So first, let's kind of 36 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: define what copyright is now. Essentially, copyright guarantees the creator 37 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: of a work or an entity that has been designated 38 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: by the creator of the work, the right to profit 39 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:51,360 Speaker 1: off of that work, the right to make copies of 40 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: that work and then distribute or sell them, or you know, 41 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: you just you own that intellectual property. No one else 42 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 1: can come and make copies of it without your permission. 43 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,639 Speaker 1: The works in this case range from the written word 44 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:12,679 Speaker 1: to music, to paintings, sculpture, uh to digital files. I mean, 45 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: copyright now applies to lots of stuff. Clearly it didn't 46 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: apply to all of that in the beginning, but something 47 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: that has evolved over time. It does not include inventions. 48 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: Those are covered under patent law. And then you also 49 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:30,000 Speaker 1: have things like trademarks, which make things more complicated. I 50 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: might talk about trademarks and copyright in a future episode 51 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: to kind of talk about how those complicate things, because 52 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: companies have tried to use trademarks in order to extend 53 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: copyright protection. But trademarks last in perpetuity. Copyright only lasts 54 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: a certain amount of time, at least in theory. We'll 55 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: get to all that. So along with the right to 56 00:03:55,400 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: profit from intellectual property comes with it protections against others 57 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: who are taking a work and profiting off of it 58 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: without permission. Now you can see the value of this 59 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: concept right away, I imagine. So let's say you are 60 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: a musician and you write a song. It was your work. 61 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: You created the whole piece, You wrote the music, and 62 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: you wrote the lyrics and you plan to earn money 63 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 1: through this song. Maybe you're going to record it to 64 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,840 Speaker 1: some form of media and then sell copies of the song. 65 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: So you filed a copyright for the song, which gives 66 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: you the exclusive rights to make copies of it uh 67 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:39,800 Speaker 1: in whatever format you like, whether it's digital files or 68 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: physical media, or even like sheet music. You can charge 69 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: whatever you like for your work, though obviously if you 70 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:49,839 Speaker 1: go bonkers and you ask for a ridiculously high price, 71 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: you aren't likely to get a lot of takers. You 72 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,159 Speaker 1: also have the protection should someone else start making copies 73 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: of your song without your permission. Maybe they are performing 74 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 1: it themselves, in which case they should secure a license first, 75 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: or maybe they're taking your original recording and just duplicating it. 76 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: So let's say that you created an MP three file 77 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: and they just copy the MP three file endlessly and 78 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: start either giving it away or selling it to people. 79 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 1: You could sue that person, and in court you could 80 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: prove that you hold the copyright to that piece of music, 81 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 1: and assuming the court agrees that the copyright is legitimate, 82 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: you could then seek damages against the person or entity 83 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:40,920 Speaker 1: that made the unauthorized copies of your work. Music is 84 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 1: actually really a special case because you can have multiple 85 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: copyrights on the work. You could have one for the lyrics, 86 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,880 Speaker 1: then you could have another for the musical composition itself, 87 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,040 Speaker 1: and that would mean that someone who wanted to play 88 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: your music but change the lyrics would still potentially be 89 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: liable for copyright violations. But we're going to get back 90 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: to that a little bit later in this episode, but 91 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: it is something to keep in mind. However, Then there 92 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: are such things as mechanical licenses. This sets out the 93 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: rules for stuff like playing recorded music in particular places. 94 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,159 Speaker 1: So if you've ever been to like a restaurant or 95 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: a theater and you've heard music being played over the 96 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:28,479 Speaker 1: sound system, chances are that that place of business has 97 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 1: paid out a license fee in order to be able 98 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: to do that. Intellectual property rights get pretty complicated. Uh. 99 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: It also depends upon the size of the venue. I 100 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: might have to do a future episode to kind of 101 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,599 Speaker 1: talk about all the exceptions, because, as I said, it 102 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: does get complicated, and in some cases, if it's a 103 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 1: very small venue, UH, they can sometimes be exempt from 104 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: having to pay the same sort of license fees that 105 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: larger venues have to pay. And part of the argument 106 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: there is that the number of people who would actually 107 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: experience the music is much smaller because the venue is 108 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: smaller anyway. In the old days, as in before the 109 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: printing press, copyright wasn't really that big of a thing, like, 110 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: there wasn't a big concern for it. There were predecessors 111 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: for formal copyright, but truthfully, there wasn't much occasion to 112 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: use them because the act of copying a work involved 113 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: actually making a copy out by hand, handwriting the copy 114 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: of a written work. This was a painstaking process and 115 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: not something that could be done on any sort of scale, 116 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: and so copyright wasn't as huge a concern just because 117 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 1: infringement itself was not something that was easy to do. 118 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: And to that the fact that much of the world's 119 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: population was illiterate and there just wasn't a foundation for 120 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: copyright infringement to really take hold. Then a smarty pants 121 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: named Johann Gutenberg had to go and invent the movable 122 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,960 Speaker 1: type printing press, at least the European version. I should 123 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: stress that Europe because the parts of the world were 124 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: actually further advanced with printing technologies than Europe was. But 125 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: this is the one that Western cultures tend to talk 126 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: about because we get a little myopic. But i'll i'll 127 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: set aside the commentary. So with the printing press, it 128 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 1: became possible to set the type on the press and 129 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: then print out sheets one after the other in relatively 130 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: quick succession. Now, it still took time to set the 131 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 1: press between pages because you had to change all the 132 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 1: type out right. You had to remove all the type, 133 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,680 Speaker 1: set the type again, and then print the next sheet. 134 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: So you would typically use the press to print a 135 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:41,559 Speaker 1: bunch of the same sheet in a row before you 136 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: would reset the type and move on to the next sheet. However, 137 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: you could also use a single large sheet of paper 138 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: to set up multiple pages of text, and so you 139 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:56,319 Speaker 1: could divide up the quadrants of a printing press and 140 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: change the type up so that you are actually creating 141 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: multiple pages per press. And then you fold the paper 142 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,680 Speaker 1: in such a way that that makes all sense, like 143 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: if you fold it once along a vertical line, so 144 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: you you fold it in half vertically. Um, then are 145 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,320 Speaker 1: along the vertical access I should say, Then you end 146 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: up with a folio that was a single large sheet 147 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: of paper that would have one page printed on the 148 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: left side, one page printed on the right side. You 149 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: have a vertical fold in the middle, and then you 150 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: can just keep printing those over and over again, and 151 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: then you bind a bunch of those together and you've 152 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: got a book. Or you could do a double fold, 153 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:41,800 Speaker 1: and you could have a quarto, which would also involve 154 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: you having to make a cut along the horizontal line. 155 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: But then you've got four pages per sheet, so you 156 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: could do that, and that it means that with one 157 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: press you're effectively printing four pages, and then you let 158 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 1: it dry, you flip it over, and you can print 159 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:01,480 Speaker 1: another four pages. Very useful. So this was these were 160 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,680 Speaker 1: different ways that you could end up creating books fairly quickly. 161 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: The process of publishing became much faster than with people 162 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:12,320 Speaker 1: doing it by hand, but there wasn't yet a formalized 163 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,400 Speaker 1: protection in place for the creator of the works, and 164 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: at this point, the typical approach was for an author 165 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,560 Speaker 1: to receive a flat fee for their work, which would 166 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: then go to a book printer to produce, so the 167 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: printer would take ownership of that work from that point forward. 168 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:33,080 Speaker 1: Then it was just a matter of time before other 169 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 1: printers would get hold of the book and start making 170 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:38,240 Speaker 1: their own copies, at least for books that proved to 171 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: be popular for authors. There really wasn't a whole lot 172 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 1: of profit in this approach. William Shakespeare, who you know, 173 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,319 Speaker 1: you could argue, was one of the greatest English writers, 174 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 1: mostly known for his plays but also his poetry. He 175 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:57,080 Speaker 1: never sought out the printing of his plays. Others would 176 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 1: give it a shot. Either they would try to copy 177 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: down days as they were being performed and then go 178 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: and print what they had transcribed, or they would try 179 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: to get hold of the sides that actors were using 180 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:11,440 Speaker 1: in their roles, or a combination of the two. It 181 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: was really only after Shakespeare's death that his friends got 182 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: together and did their best to gather his plays and 183 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: publish them. Now, based on what I know about Shakespeare, 184 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,200 Speaker 1: I suspect the reason that he did not seek out 185 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: publication of his works was that it really wasn't where 186 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 1: the money would be for him. He would get a 187 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: pay the flat fee for every play he wrote, but 188 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,439 Speaker 1: more importantly, he was a part owner of the theater itself. 189 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 1: Like the Globe Theater or the Rose Theater. He was 190 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: part of the company that owned the theater, so that 191 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 1: meant he would actually take a share of the box office. So, 192 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: in other words, his main goal was to attract crowds 193 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: to the theater. That's where the money was. But you 194 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: can bet that if there had been serious money in 195 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,079 Speaker 1: publication back in those days, Shakespeare would have been all 196 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:02,959 Speaker 1: over it because a quick glance at some of the 197 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: lawsuits he was involved with during his lifetime indicates he 198 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:10,600 Speaker 1: had a certain appreciation for the accumulation of wealth. So Shakespeare, 199 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: great artist, also a business guy, and had publishing been 200 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: a bigger business for the author, he certainly would have 201 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 1: gone that route, I'm sure of it. Now, the printing 202 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,440 Speaker 1: press was a truly transformational piece of technology. It became 203 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:30,160 Speaker 1: easier to produce many copies of a work book. Printing businesses, 204 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: which would evolve into true publishing houses, began to pop 205 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: up all over Europe, and the powers that be, that is, 206 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 1: the Church and the various governments of Europe viewed book 207 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:45,560 Speaker 1: printers as both an asset and a potential threat. Through 208 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: the printers, these organizations could spread information quickly. The Bible 209 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 1: was a very early candidate for printing, as the Guttenberg 210 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: Bible proves and governments could use printing presses to spread 211 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: information about laws and declarations and kind of thing. But 212 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: printing presses also meant it was easier to print stuff 213 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:08,840 Speaker 1: that undermined authority. People who had a boned pick with 214 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: the folks who were in charge could potentially spread their 215 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: ideas and maybe find sympathetic souls who shared those same beliefs. 216 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:21,240 Speaker 1: So the printing press could enable existential threats to the 217 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:24,640 Speaker 1: power structure. And this is where we get a predecessor 218 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: to copyright. Now, this predecessor wasn't so much about making 219 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: sure the author of a book was fairly compensated. Instead, 220 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: it was more about keeping printing houses under control. The 221 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:41,240 Speaker 1: basic idea was that any business that wished to print 222 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,440 Speaker 1: materials had to first secure an official license from, you know, 223 00:13:45,679 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: the government of that region. These licenses typically meant that 224 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: a specific printer would be responsible for the printing of 225 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: particular works to the exclusion of all other printers. So 226 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,719 Speaker 1: you might say that this one printer can print this 227 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:04,559 Speaker 1: one book, and no other printer in the region is 228 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 1: allowed to do that, so they have a monopoly on 229 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: that specific title. In fact, they called the monopolies. These 230 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,600 Speaker 1: agreements would last a set number of years, which wasn't 231 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: too different from the concept of modern copyrights. If any 232 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: other printer was found to produce a work that some 233 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: other printer had exclusive rights to, that matter could go 234 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: to court, but this was all about the printing houses, 235 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: not authors. England passed its first actual copyright law in 236 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: seventeen This law changed things quite a bit. A publisher 237 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,960 Speaker 1: would have a fourteen year period of exclusive rights to 238 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: publish any new book. Existing books that the printing house 239 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:48,720 Speaker 1: was already printing would enjoy protection for twenty one years. 240 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: After that, the author of the work could choose to 241 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: renew the copyright if the author was still alive. Otherwise 242 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: the work would enter into the public domain, meaning any 243 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: one would be legally allowed to make a copy of 244 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: that work or use it in any way they liked. 245 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: There were no longer any protections on that piece of work, 246 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,840 Speaker 1: and it was available for any public use. The United 247 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,480 Speaker 1: States wouldn't get its first true copyright law until nearly 248 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: a century later, but let's be fair, there was no 249 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: such thing as the United States in seventeen ten, so 250 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: I'm gonna cut the Young Nations some slack here. The 251 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,479 Speaker 1: copyright law of the US followed closely in the footsteps 252 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: of the Copyright Act of Britain, which was also known 253 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 1: as the Statute of Ann as in Queen Anne. So 254 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,920 Speaker 1: the way that the US law worked was that an 255 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: author would register their work with the U S District 256 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: Court of their particular region, and they would in return 257 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: receive an exclusive copyright for fourteen years, with the option 258 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:52,400 Speaker 1: to renew for a second fourteen year period, and after 259 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: those twenty eight years, assuming that you actually renewed your copyright, 260 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: the work would then enter into the public domain with 261 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: the Statute of Ann and the Copyright Act of the 262 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:05,040 Speaker 1: US or at the point where authors would get a 263 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: little more protection and a chance to benefit more from 264 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: their own work. It was no longer the case of 265 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: a one time flat fee in every instance. Now, I 266 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 1: say authors, but often we're really still talking about publishers. Here, 267 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: the publisher retains the copyright because the copyright allows the 268 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: publisher to you know, publish the works. Otherwise, the author 269 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: would have to grant permission for each printing. You'd have 270 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: to have a license for it. It It all gets clunky 271 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: right that the author has exclusive copyright to their work, 272 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: they have to grant permission to whichever entity is creating 273 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 1: copies of that work. You often see this reflected today 274 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: in ways that are kind of confusing. When you agree 275 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 1: to certain platforms, there's language there that seems to suggest 276 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: that anything you post on that platform is that platform's property. 277 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: But usually the reasoning for the language is to make 278 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:04,640 Speaker 1: sure that the platform has the necessary permission to display 279 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,160 Speaker 1: whatever it is you're posting, because otherwise, every single time 280 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: you posted, you would have to have some sort of 281 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: licensing agreement or something that would give permission to the 282 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: platform to actually display the thing you wrote. It gets 283 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: pretty complicated now. The same would be true for most 284 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:25,960 Speaker 1: music produced in the modern era. The copyright isn't necessarily 285 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: held by the artist, but by a music label. It's 286 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:32,919 Speaker 1: kind of like how Thomas Edison made sure that his 287 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: name was on every patent produced out of his business. 288 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:38,919 Speaker 1: He might not have had a direct hand in the 289 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: creation of every invention. In fact, we know that he 290 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:44,400 Speaker 1: didn't have a direct hand and a lot of them, 291 00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,720 Speaker 1: but he sure as heck made sure that his signature 292 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: was on the patent to every single one, so that 293 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 1: he had a right to each of them. Anyway. One 294 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,639 Speaker 1: of the consequences of all of this is that to 295 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: this day, getting the permission of an author or artist 296 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:04,400 Speaker 1: in order to use their work typically isn't enough. That's 297 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:08,920 Speaker 1: because in many cases that individual creator doesn't actually hold 298 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:13,360 Speaker 1: the copyright to the work. It's more likely that some 299 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:18,280 Speaker 1: corporate entity will hold the copyright on behalf of that creator. 300 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:21,199 Speaker 1: So you really have to get the permission of whatever 301 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:25,399 Speaker 1: entity holds the copyright for any specific intellectual property. In 302 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,880 Speaker 1: some cases it might be an individual creator, in other 303 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: cases it might be a big company. So let's say 304 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: if you met an artist for Disney in a cafe 305 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 1: and this artist told you, oh, it's totally cool if 306 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:44,399 Speaker 1: you use they're drawing of a popular Disney character for 307 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:48,639 Speaker 1: something you're doing, that's probably not good enough because that 308 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:54,119 Speaker 1: artist wouldn't even hold the copyright for that work. Disney would, 309 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,959 Speaker 1: and copyright laws would evolve quite a lot over the 310 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: following centuries. They banded to include more types of works, 311 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:05,919 Speaker 1: as well as to allow for things like licenses, and 312 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,879 Speaker 1: without these considerations, it might be illegal to, you know, 313 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:12,399 Speaker 1: play playback an album without first getting permission of the 314 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 1: music label, which is clearly absurd. You wouldn't have it. 315 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,120 Speaker 1: Where you bought an album, you went home, and every 316 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: time you were to play the album, you first had 317 00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 1: to get permission from the music label to do that 318 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: that just doesn't make sense. But that's the sort of 319 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,400 Speaker 1: stuff that actually had to be codified into law. It's 320 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 1: you know, it's not enough to just everyone agree like, 321 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: oh well, that's absurd. It actually had to be written 322 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 1: down somewhere and ratified. One of the biggest changes to 323 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: copyright has been how long that copyright protection lasts. This 324 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 1: also ties into how many capitalist societies treat corporations, which 325 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:56,159 Speaker 1: is uh ridiculously in my mind. So here in the 326 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,720 Speaker 1: United States in particular, corporations are treated legally like a 327 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:02,400 Speaker 1: per person. But if you think about that's kind of bonkers. 328 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:06,240 Speaker 1: More than kind of bonkers, I should say, people get old, 329 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:10,640 Speaker 1: people pass away corporations. Assuming that they are run well 330 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,199 Speaker 1: and they provide some sort of goods or services that 331 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:18,240 Speaker 1: people want or need, they can exist indefinitely. And a 332 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:23,119 Speaker 1: corporation that relies heavily on intellectual property is quite loath 333 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 1: to give up that meal ticket, and so corporations over 334 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:31,480 Speaker 1: the years have lobbied hard to extend copyright in order 335 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 1: to prevent the i P that they own from falling 336 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: into the public domain. And then they can no longer 337 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: exclusively exploit that i P. They could still exploit it. 338 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: They could still sell stuff with it, just it doesn't 339 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,679 Speaker 1: stop anyone else from doing the same thing. Perhaps the 340 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: most high profile of all these companies was one that 341 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,920 Speaker 1: seemed fixated on a particular mouse that I've already mentioned. 342 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: I'll explain more after this quick break. Before the break, 343 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,960 Speaker 1: I t s that corporations played a huge part in 344 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 1: lobbying Congress to extend the protections of copyright, and one 345 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 1: of those corporations is the Walt Disney Company and the 346 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: cultural phenomenon that is Mickey Mouse. The cartoon Steamboat Willie, 347 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,239 Speaker 1: which was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, was released in 348 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty eight. Now, at that time, US copyright law 349 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:34,239 Speaker 1: had a twenty eight year protection limit, which could then 350 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 1: be renewed for a second twenty eight year term, which 351 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,439 Speaker 1: would provide a total of fifty six years of copyright 352 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: exclusivity to the owner of an i P. But then 353 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: the i P would enter the public domain. That means 354 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: that if copyright law had remained unchanged since Steamboat Willie, 355 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,679 Speaker 1: Steamboat Willie would have entered the public domain back in 356 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: nineteen four Spoiler alert. As of the recording of this podcast, 357 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,199 Speaker 1: Steamboat Willie is not in the public domain yet, so 358 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:09,879 Speaker 1: things did not remain the same. By the nineteen seventies, 359 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,680 Speaker 1: the Disney Company was lobbying hard to change copyright laws, 360 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: and I want to be clear, they weren't the only ones, 361 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: but you frequently hear Disney specifically in regard to lobbying 362 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 1: for copyright law extensions, and it worked. Congress changed the 363 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 1: copyright protection so that copyrights that were held by individual 364 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 1: authors protection would last the lifetime of that author plus 365 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: another fifty years. So now we're well beyond guaranteeing the 366 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:42,639 Speaker 1: right of a person to profit off of their work. 367 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 1: Right now, you're saying you're guaranteeing that multiple generations of 368 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 1: an author's family can continue to benefit from the work 369 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,760 Speaker 1: of the author. The author will be dead and fifty 370 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:57,680 Speaker 1: years will pass, and until those fifty years are up, 371 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:03,680 Speaker 1: the estate will continue to benefit monetarily from that author's work, 372 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,600 Speaker 1: assuming that you know people are still buying it. Obviously, 373 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,480 Speaker 1: if it falls out of favor and no one's purchasing anything, 374 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:14,800 Speaker 1: then those rights, while they're important, don't actually leverage into 375 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: any kind of monetary gain. But this is where I 376 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:20,639 Speaker 1: start feeling a little weird about all this, because I 377 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,680 Speaker 1: think it's one thing to want to provide for your family, right, 378 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: you want to earn money and help contribute to your 379 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:33,200 Speaker 1: family or households well being. But it's another to create 380 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:36,960 Speaker 1: generational wealth that removes the need for future generations to 381 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:41,360 Speaker 1: you know, make any sort of meaningful contribution themselves. There 382 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: are lots of cases where the children of authors who 383 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 1: were incredibly successful, uh, have themselves gone on to do 384 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 1: amazing things, which is great. But there are also cases 385 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: of people who just kind of, you know, never bothered 386 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:00,800 Speaker 1: to do anything because they didn't really have need to. 387 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: They were all of their needs were already met because 388 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: they were earning income on something that their parents or 389 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: grandparents or great grandparents had done, and there never was 390 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:16,920 Speaker 1: any need for them to do anything. Uh. Not super 391 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: helpful for the general society. Not very healthy in my 392 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,440 Speaker 1: mind anyway. For corporations that owned i P. It was 393 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,399 Speaker 1: a different story, right, because corporations don't die, so you 394 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: can't say the life of a corporation plus fifty years. 395 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:36,920 Speaker 1: So in this case, the copyright protection extended the term 396 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: for works that had been published before ninety eight to 397 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,359 Speaker 1: a total term of seventy five years of protection. Uh. 398 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:48,119 Speaker 1: The Copyright Extension pushed that that protection of Steamboat Willie 399 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 1: to two thousand three because of that, because it was 400 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:53,479 Speaker 1: published in nineteen seventy five years later would be up 401 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:58,199 Speaker 1: to two thousand three. However, in nineteen Congress passed the 402 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:02,360 Speaker 1: Copyright Term Extension at also known as the Sunny Bono 403 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:06,160 Speaker 1: Copyright Term Extension Act, after the late congressman and musicians 404 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 1: Sonny Bono Bono had passed away in an accident while 405 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: Congress was hashing out this extension bill, so he was 406 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:17,280 Speaker 1: posthumously honored with the title of the the Act. This 407 00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 1: act extended the copyright protection for any work published in 408 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,720 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty three or later. And the extension meant that 409 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,159 Speaker 1: the copyright protection now went from the life of the 410 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,679 Speaker 1: author plus fifty years to the life of the author 411 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,679 Speaker 1: plus seventy years for those works that were created by 412 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:39,359 Speaker 1: an individual artist. And it meant for works of corporate authorship. 413 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:43,399 Speaker 1: You know, works that like Steamboat Willie from Disney, they 414 00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 1: went from having seventy five years of protection to either 415 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 1: ninety five years after publication or one twenty years from 416 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:54,080 Speaker 1: the date of creation, whichever ended earlier. So you know, 417 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:58,720 Speaker 1: corporate corporations might create something but not yet publish it, 418 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: So in some cases you would actually have a shorter 419 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,560 Speaker 1: period between time of creation and a hundred twenty years 420 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,680 Speaker 1: than time of publication. In ninety five years anyway, any 421 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: published work before nineteen seventy eight would get an additional 422 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 1: twenty years of copyright protection, so they went from seventy 423 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 1: five years to ninety five years, and those extra twenty 424 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: years meant that Steamboat Willie will now enter public domain 425 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,479 Speaker 1: essentially at the beginning of twenty twenty four, unless between 426 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:28,920 Speaker 1: now and then there's yet another change to copyright law, 427 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: which seems highly unlikely because there is a large opposition 428 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: to that. Since the Copyright Act I've mentioned so far 429 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: retroactively protected any work published after nineteen twenty three, it 430 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,160 Speaker 1: meant that we finally saw some published works go into 431 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,719 Speaker 1: the public domain beginning in twenty nineteen. So on January one, 432 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:53,720 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, any copyrighted works that were published in nineteen 433 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:56,639 Speaker 1: twenty three, with a few exceptions that have to do 434 00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:00,240 Speaker 1: with music because music is complicated, otherwise, they heard the 435 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,880 Speaker 1: public domain at that point. This was the first time 436 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:05,600 Speaker 1: in twenty one years that a large collection of works 437 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:08,840 Speaker 1: fell out of copyright protection. And into the public domain 438 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: only because of the timing of changes to copyright law 439 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,160 Speaker 1: in the United States. So works from nineteen twenty two 440 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:20,040 Speaker 1: had entered the public domain back in nineteen, but then 441 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 1: you had the change to copyright law, and so any 442 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,679 Speaker 1: works from nineteen twenty three enjoyed twenty more years of 443 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 1: protection because of that recent extension, and thus they only 444 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: entered the public domain in twenty nineteen. That's the difference 445 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:36,400 Speaker 1: that a single year can make. This year in one 446 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:40,040 Speaker 1: we saw works like f Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby 447 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,639 Speaker 1: go into the public domain. You can now make as 448 00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: many copies of The Great Gatsby as you like. You 449 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:47,560 Speaker 1: can hand them out for free. You could charge for 450 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,440 Speaker 1: them if you want to. It's public domain. Dr Doolittle's 451 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,960 Speaker 1: Zoo also went into public domain this year. Agatha Christie's 452 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: The Secret of Chimneys made its exit from copyright protection. 453 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: The nineteen twenty five silent film version of been Her 454 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:07,119 Speaker 1: not the Charlton Heston version, but the silent film version 455 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,200 Speaker 1: is in public domain, as is Lawn Cheneye The Phantom 456 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: of the Opera. Also the silent film version of Wizard 457 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: of Oz, again not the Big musical version, you know, 458 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:21,720 Speaker 1: not the follow the Yellow Brick Road version, but the 459 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 1: silent film version of Wizard of Oz is also in 460 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 1: the public domain this year. Now, that means that if 461 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: you want to make copies of Lawn Cheney's Phantom of 462 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: the Opera and you want to distribute those widely, if 463 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: you want to post the entire movie on YouTube, you can. 464 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,960 Speaker 1: You can do it for free. You could also, you know, 465 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: sell DVDs of it if you wanted to, you could. 466 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: You could press DVDs with Lawn Cheney's Phantom of the 467 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,120 Speaker 1: Opera and you could sell them. I don't know if 468 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: anyone would buy them, but you could do it. You 469 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 1: can do it here, you can do it there. You 470 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: can do it everywhere in the US. Anyway, it is 471 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 1: no longer in copyright. Now, backtracking just a little bit, 472 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: the printing press had made copyright protection more or less 473 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,080 Speaker 1: a necessity to prevent publishers from pouncing on each other 474 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 1: and flooding the market with copies of various books. But 475 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,160 Speaker 1: for a really long time, copyright was just something that 476 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 1: big companies were mostly concerned with. It was a non 477 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: factor for the average person. I mean, it affected us, 478 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: but we didn't come into any sort of conflict with 479 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: copyright protection because most of us just didn't have access 480 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 1: to equipment that we would need to replicate an original work. 481 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,000 Speaker 1: If back in the mid nineteen twenties you managed to 482 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,360 Speaker 1: get your grubby hands on a copy of The Great Gatsby, 483 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,240 Speaker 1: you probably didn't have the ability to copy that work 484 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,720 Speaker 1: and then sell it to two people yourself, you know, 485 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: like undercutting big bookstores or whatever. Publishing houses were protecting themselves, 486 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: but they were doing so mostly from other publishing houses. 487 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: The average person was not a threat. So the nature 488 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:02,080 Speaker 1: of copyright law was all about corporate entities protecting themselves 489 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 1: from each other. This, by the way, is what kind 490 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: of becomes an issue in the modern day, where you've 491 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: got the the effect of like a nuclear arsenal, you know, 492 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,600 Speaker 1: corporations against each other that could then be aimed against 493 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: the individual because the nature of copying has changed, so 494 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 1: there's a disproportionate hardship on the individual because of that. 495 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:32,280 Speaker 1: So over time, various inventions meant more people would have 496 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: the ability to create copies of stuff, and these technological 497 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: advancements always came hand in hand with media companies freaking 498 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,120 Speaker 1: the heck out about it, which is not an exaggeration. 499 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 1: The invention of technologies like cassette tapes or VHS tapes, 500 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 1: burnable compact discs, and of course digital media all sent 501 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:59,080 Speaker 1: media companies into a tizzy. Each invention prompted the companies 502 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 1: to object nuous lee and to proclaim that should these 503 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:08,000 Speaker 1: technologies fall into the hands of the common, unwashed masses 504 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: like myself, that the era of stuff like film or 505 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,520 Speaker 1: television or popular music would all come to an end, 506 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 1: and the entire industry would crash down on itself, and 507 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:23,480 Speaker 1: we would then be back to banging rocks together for entertainment. 508 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:27,560 Speaker 1: News Alert. None of that happened, but in the process 509 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 1: we saw lots of other laws passed that expanded copyright 510 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:36,240 Speaker 1: protection by creating a pretty extensive framework for prosecution should 511 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: an IP holder discover that someone has copied or distributed 512 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: stuff that they hold the rights to without proper authorization. 513 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: I will cover more of those in the next episode. Now, 514 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: one of the reasons the public domain is important is 515 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,479 Speaker 1: that works can have a great deal of relevance and 516 00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: usefulness many years after they were published. They of all 517 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,960 Speaker 1: the classics that are out there that have stood the 518 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: test of time, But if copyright lasted forever, these works 519 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: would be under a tight restriction in perpetuity. Public domain 520 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:16,520 Speaker 1: means that eventually these works will become widely accessible. It's 521 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: balancing out the benefits that go to the i P 522 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:23,880 Speaker 1: holder against the benefits of society as a whole. All right, 523 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: But what about fair use? Okay? So, fair use is 524 00:32:28,560 --> 00:32:32,360 Speaker 1: a concept that allows someone to use part of a 525 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:38,960 Speaker 1: copyrighted work that uh without permission in one of several ways. 526 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 1: And it's fairly narrow in its scope, but also kind 527 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 1: of fuzzy at the edges. So it's narrow and scope, 528 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 1: but there are no hard yes or no answers to 529 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: this stuff. In general, fair use allows someone to make 530 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:56,240 Speaker 1: limited use of a portion of a copyrighted work for 531 00:32:56,320 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: the purposes of news reporting, research, teaching, or criticism and commentary. 532 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: Parody falls into that last category as well, but we're 533 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: gonna come back to that because it's a more specific 534 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: approach than just adding funny words to existing music. Fair 535 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 1: use means that you don't have to secure permission from 536 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: the copyright holder if you're using a small portion of 537 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 1: that original work in one of these ways. So, for example, 538 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:27,680 Speaker 1: if I were criticizing a film, I could use small 539 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,960 Speaker 1: clips of that film during my critique. Let's say I'm 540 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: uploading a video to YouTube where I am critiquing a movie. 541 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,280 Speaker 1: I can include tiny clips of that film in order 542 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:41,240 Speaker 1: to illustrate specific points of my criticism, and I wouldn't 543 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:45,160 Speaker 1: have to get permission first. The clips I used would 544 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:49,280 Speaker 1: need to relate directly to that criticism. However, I might 545 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,719 Speaker 1: want to talk about lighting composition, and I'll use clips 546 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: from Robert Egger's film The Lighthouse, because that film had 547 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: phenomenal lighting in it. So I'd use the examples to 548 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 1: talk about specific lighting techniques and how they shape storytelling 549 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:09,360 Speaker 1: and what significance they play in the unfolding of the 550 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:11,839 Speaker 1: story of the Lighthouse. But if I were to get 551 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:15,000 Speaker 1: more loosey goosey, my protection of fair use would not 552 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:19,319 Speaker 1: be as solid. Similarly, if I were to use very 553 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,880 Speaker 1: short clips of the film in my critique, my argument 554 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:26,040 Speaker 1: of fair use is better supported than if I were to, say, 555 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 1: include thirty minutes of the movie surrounded by like five 556 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,640 Speaker 1: minutes of criticism. Now, does that mean there's a specific 557 00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:36,759 Speaker 1: safe amount of copyrighted material that you can use without 558 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: fear of retribution? No, there is a common misconception that 559 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:45,560 Speaker 1: if you use less than say, fifteen seconds of audio 560 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: from a source or six seconds or whatever, that that's 561 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:52,080 Speaker 1: small enough to be fair use and no one's going 562 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,040 Speaker 1: to come after you. That is just not true. Or rather, 563 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,440 Speaker 1: it's it's not a guarantee. Specifically, it's not a guarantee 564 00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:02,000 Speaker 1: if you're not using that as some form of commentary 565 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:05,520 Speaker 1: or criticism on the work itself. If you're using it 566 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:09,719 Speaker 1: as like the button to a moment, you know, like 567 00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:14,160 Speaker 1: a sound bite or whatever, there's very little support for 568 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:16,560 Speaker 1: a fair use argument there. So if I just filled 569 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 1: up this podcast with sound bites from various films and music, 570 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:24,920 Speaker 1: TV shows and radio spots and stuff like that without 571 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: paying a license for all of those things, I would 572 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:32,440 Speaker 1: be flying pretty darn close to the sun. Because unless 573 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 1: I'm using those snippets in very specific ways, such as 574 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:40,440 Speaker 1: to criticize those original works that the snippets belong to, 575 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,720 Speaker 1: or to report on the news of those snippets, well 576 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:48,719 Speaker 1: I would be infringing on copyright. That doesn't necessarily mean 577 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,840 Speaker 1: anyone is going to come after me. I mean, chances 578 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:55,720 Speaker 1: are for really small stuff, I'd probably be okay unless 579 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,399 Speaker 1: my podcast got wildly successful, in which case I could 580 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:03,160 Speaker 1: represent a pretty lucrative target. If the copyright holders looked 581 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:06,240 Speaker 1: at my podcast and said, well, that show is making 582 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: x million dollars a year, and a lot of that popularity, 583 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,880 Speaker 1: we could argue comes from its use of our intellectual property. 584 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:17,719 Speaker 1: We can get a piece of that that pie like that. 585 00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:20,480 Speaker 1: That would be the thought process, and it could actually 586 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:24,319 Speaker 1: work in court. So it doesn't mean on bulletproof if 587 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:28,040 Speaker 1: I'm just using tiny little clips. It's not until it 588 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 1: goes to court that I really know if I'm going 589 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,920 Speaker 1: to have to pay or not. So fair use isn't 590 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:37,080 Speaker 1: a concept that has hard borders to it. It's all 591 00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 1: interpretive stuff. And here's the key to all of it. 592 00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:44,279 Speaker 1: Fair use is something that gets determined in court. So, 593 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:48,239 Speaker 1: in other words, you can't really use fair use proactively 594 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,439 Speaker 1: as a defense. It's a defense that you make if 595 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:55,560 Speaker 1: a copyright holder pursues a claim against you for copyright infringement. 596 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:58,440 Speaker 1: So let's say that I did that critique of the 597 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:03,000 Speaker 1: Lighthouse and Film Company A twenty four, which released and 598 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,920 Speaker 1: distributed the film here in the United States. Let's say 599 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 1: that that that company came after me for copyright infringement, 600 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:13,320 Speaker 1: and I would have to defend my use of those 601 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 1: clips in court, and I would have to cite fair 602 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:19,880 Speaker 1: use in that process roout the court proceedings, I would 603 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:22,520 Speaker 1: likely have to prove that the way I use those 604 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:25,640 Speaker 1: clips was in fact to critique the film, and that 605 00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: the excerpts I used were appropriate and constituted a relatively 606 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:33,520 Speaker 1: small percentage of the overall critique and a very small 607 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:37,640 Speaker 1: percentage of the original film. Courts decide on a case 608 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:41,040 Speaker 1: by case basis if a particular instance is fair use 609 00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:45,560 Speaker 1: or not. There isn't a blanket fair use defense. You 610 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:47,319 Speaker 1: gotta go in front of the courts to do it. 611 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:49,840 Speaker 1: And this is what I meant by that nuclear arsenal. 612 00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 1: When it comes to companies versus companies, typically you have 613 00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:58,719 Speaker 1: lawyers on both sides who are just perpetually employed by 614 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:02,120 Speaker 1: these companies call each other up and they work things out, 615 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,879 Speaker 1: and you might have a licensing agreement, or you might 616 00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,360 Speaker 1: agree to a settlement, but it rarely goes to court. 617 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:12,440 Speaker 1: When it comes to individuals, most of us don't have 618 00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:16,920 Speaker 1: access to that kind of legal defense. So for us, 619 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:21,840 Speaker 1: it's like a massive, well funded company with high paid 620 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:25,799 Speaker 1: lawyers versus the little guy, and it means that the 621 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:28,560 Speaker 1: little guy has to shell out the big bucks in 622 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:32,600 Speaker 1: order to defend themselves against the corporations, even if the 623 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:36,919 Speaker 1: little guy is totally in the right. If the the 624 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:41,319 Speaker 1: use is inarguably fair use, you don't get to that 625 00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:43,680 Speaker 1: decision magically. You have to go to court for it, 626 00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:48,200 Speaker 1: and court is expensive. We're going to pause the conversation 627 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,200 Speaker 1: right here, take a quick break, and we'll be right 628 00:38:51,239 --> 00:39:01,680 Speaker 1: back now. The courts tend to look at four factors 629 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:06,480 Speaker 1: when deciding if any given instance constitutes fair use. One 630 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:09,719 Speaker 1: is the purpose and character of the use of the 631 00:39:09,719 --> 00:39:14,360 Speaker 1: original material, including whether the use is for a commercial 632 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:18,280 Speaker 1: nature or is nonprofit and educational. So, in other words, 633 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,480 Speaker 1: if I'm making videos where I critique films, and I 634 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:24,799 Speaker 1: include clips of those films and the videos, and I'm 635 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:29,239 Speaker 1: monetizing those critique videos, that can be a little bit 636 00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:32,360 Speaker 1: of a strike against me because I'm using someone else's 637 00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:36,200 Speaker 1: work in something on my own in order to make money. 638 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:39,440 Speaker 1: That's not a failure rail the gate, but it does 639 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,560 Speaker 1: make my argument harder. So it doesn't mean that a 640 00:39:42,640 --> 00:39:46,839 Speaker 1: court is going to decide I'm not engaging in fair use. 641 00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:51,239 Speaker 1: But in general, if the use is nonprofit and it's educational, 642 00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: it fits more easily into the fair use category, and 643 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:57,279 Speaker 1: courts tend to be a bit more forgiving. Then there's 644 00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:01,040 Speaker 1: the nature of the copyrighted work itself. In general, it 645 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:03,640 Speaker 1: is easier to make a fair use argument if the 646 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:07,680 Speaker 1: thing you're sampling from is a non fictional work. Works 647 00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: that are about creative expression, like novels or movies, have 648 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:16,120 Speaker 1: a higher burden of proof than works that are nonfiction. So, 649 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,880 Speaker 1: for example, in this podcast, I will sometimes quote specific 650 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:23,960 Speaker 1: sources those are non fiction sources, and I quote from 651 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:28,240 Speaker 1: them to establish facts. That's easier to defend as fair 652 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:32,200 Speaker 1: use than if I were to include, say a minute 653 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,440 Speaker 1: long audio clip from a science fiction television show that's 654 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:38,400 Speaker 1: a work of fiction. It's a work of creative endeavors. 655 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:41,520 Speaker 1: That is harder to justify as fair use unless I'm 656 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:47,000 Speaker 1: specifically critiquing the show itself. Then comes the amount and 657 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:50,719 Speaker 1: substantiality of the portion of the copyrighted work that I 658 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:53,840 Speaker 1: used in my critique of the Lighthouse. If I'm using 659 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:57,480 Speaker 1: very short clips that just show up in my video 660 00:40:57,480 --> 00:40:59,680 Speaker 1: for like five or ten seconds each as I talk 661 00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:03,279 Speaker 1: about lighting techniques, that's easier to defend a fair use. 662 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:06,080 Speaker 1: I'm not showing a significant part of the movie. People 663 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 1: aren't going to feel like they saw the entire film 664 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:12,239 Speaker 1: by watching my critique. They're just getting a flavor of 665 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:15,000 Speaker 1: what I'm talking about and getting an understanding of what 666 00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:18,920 Speaker 1: I mean when I'm critiquing the use of lighting. If I'm, however, 667 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:23,560 Speaker 1: using very long stretches of the original film, particularly stretches 668 00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:26,759 Speaker 1: that don't include changes in lighting, well that's going to 669 00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:30,799 Speaker 1: be a lot harder to defend in court. And then 670 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:34,760 Speaker 1: there's the effect of the use upon the potential market 671 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:39,080 Speaker 1: for the copyrighted work. If my derivative work could possibly 672 00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:43,120 Speaker 1: hurt the sales of the original by displacing the sales 673 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:47,160 Speaker 1: of that original, that's a problem. And this one is 674 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:50,239 Speaker 1: a tricky one, right because what if I'm not critiquing 675 00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:54,520 Speaker 1: the technique of a film, but the quality of a film. 676 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:56,799 Speaker 1: And what if I present a video where I do 677 00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:00,840 Speaker 1: an extensive tear down of a movie and I explain 678 00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:03,640 Speaker 1: how I think it is not a good film, or 679 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 1: I'm arguing that people shouldn't go see that movie, that 680 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:09,360 Speaker 1: it would be a waste of their time and money. Well, 681 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:12,800 Speaker 1: if folks value my judgment, I could well be said 682 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:15,359 Speaker 1: to have a negative impact on the sales of the 683 00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:20,120 Speaker 1: original work. However, generally that would still be protected. However, 684 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:22,560 Speaker 1: if I were to use the original in some way 685 00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:25,320 Speaker 1: that would make people want to buy my derivative work 686 00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:30,120 Speaker 1: or consume it for free or whatever instead of the original, 687 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,040 Speaker 1: well that's harder to defend. So let's say, like in 688 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:35,800 Speaker 1: my critique of The Lighthouse, I included the entire film 689 00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:39,440 Speaker 1: of The Lighthouse in my critique. That would be very 690 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,239 Speaker 1: hard to defend, not just because I'm using a substantial 691 00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 1: amount of the original work, but also the company could argue, hey, 692 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:50,319 Speaker 1: why would people pay to see our movie if they 693 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,200 Speaker 1: can see it for free. Just wrapped up in the 694 00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:57,480 Speaker 1: context of this supposed criticism video, the copyright holder it 695 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,720 Speaker 1: can make a valid claim that my derivative work would 696 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:04,400 Speaker 1: not exist without the copyrighted original piece, and yet it 697 00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:08,480 Speaker 1: was essentially siphoning sales away from that original piece that 698 00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: is not protected under fair use. Okay, we've got that 699 00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,560 Speaker 1: all established. We're gonna make a couple more points before 700 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:20,680 Speaker 1: we wrap this up. Um, So, when it comes to 701 00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,719 Speaker 1: stuff like music, I mentioned that you can copyright the 702 00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:28,200 Speaker 1: musical composition and you can copyright the lyrics separately. One 703 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:32,720 Speaker 1: other thing you can do, however, is copyright individual performances 704 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:36,120 Speaker 1: of a piece of music. So, for example, let's say 705 00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:38,359 Speaker 1: that you're making a video and you want to make 706 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:42,080 Speaker 1: use of a recording of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. Now 707 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:45,880 Speaker 1: to Joy is part of Beethoven's Symphony number nine. Beethoven 708 00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:48,960 Speaker 1: composed that in the eighteen twenties, and it has long 709 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:52,759 Speaker 1: since passed into the public domain. You can use Ode 710 00:43:52,800 --> 00:43:57,000 Speaker 1: to Joy in anything you like for free. There's no 711 00:43:57,040 --> 00:43:59,960 Speaker 1: one to pay royalties to as far as that's can 712 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:04,840 Speaker 1: cern or licensing fees. Two. However, that just covers the 713 00:44:04,920 --> 00:44:08,960 Speaker 1: music itself. A performance of Oh to Joy will have 714 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:13,320 Speaker 1: its own copyright, which dates to the recording of that piece. 715 00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:17,560 Speaker 1: So even though the music is in public domain, a 716 00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:21,560 Speaker 1: performance likely is not. Unless you're using a performance of 717 00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:24,759 Speaker 1: Oh to Joy. The dates from before the nineteen twenties, 718 00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:29,440 Speaker 1: So you could perform to Joy yourself in your project, 719 00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:31,880 Speaker 1: you'd be good to go. The music is in the 720 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:36,160 Speaker 1: public domain, the performance is yours, you're fine. But if 721 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:39,720 Speaker 1: you wanted to, say, use a recording of the London 722 00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:44,120 Speaker 1: Philharmonic's performance that they did sometime in the nineteen nineties 723 00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:46,440 Speaker 1: of oh joy, Well, then you would have to deal 724 00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:49,239 Speaker 1: with some licensing arrangements to get the proper permissions to 725 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:52,640 Speaker 1: make use of that music, because while the musics in 726 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:56,480 Speaker 1: the public domain, the performance is not. Then there are 727 00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:58,880 Speaker 1: other things to consider as well. So remember when I 728 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:02,200 Speaker 1: said parody is kind of a special case with fair use, 729 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,839 Speaker 1: This one gets even more complicated than other forms. So 730 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:11,399 Speaker 1: technically parody falls under fair use if it falls under 731 00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:16,040 Speaker 1: the criticism and comment consideration for fair use. A typical 732 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:19,840 Speaker 1: definition of parody is quote and imitation of the style 733 00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:24,760 Speaker 1: of a particular writer, artist, or genre would deliberate exaggeration 734 00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:29,279 Speaker 1: for comic effect end quote, but that doesn't automatically mean 735 00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:31,359 Speaker 1: that it's fair use. For it to be fair use, 736 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:36,520 Speaker 1: that specific parody really needs to comment upon or criticize 737 00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:41,000 Speaker 1: the original work that it is parodying. For that reason, 738 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:45,240 Speaker 1: some but not all, of weird Al Yankovic's parody songs 739 00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:50,040 Speaker 1: would easily fall under fair use, and others would be questionable. Now. 740 00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:52,960 Speaker 1: I mentioned weird Al because he's the most famous parody 741 00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:55,279 Speaker 1: artist I can think of, that probably the one that 742 00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:58,200 Speaker 1: most people have heard of, and some of his parodies 743 00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:02,319 Speaker 1: do tend to target the original work, so Smells Like 744 00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:05,640 Speaker 1: Nirvana is a parody of the Nirvana song Smells Like 745 00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:09,240 Speaker 1: Teen Spirit, and it's all about critiquing the original song. 746 00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:12,840 Speaker 1: There are lyrics of what is this song all about? 747 00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:16,520 Speaker 1: Can't figure any lyrics out that comments on the lyrics 748 00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:19,480 Speaker 1: of the original work. Other verses poke fun at Kurt 749 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:23,239 Speaker 1: Cobain's slurring and mumbling of words, making it hard to 750 00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:26,360 Speaker 1: understand what is actually being sung, So that song parody 751 00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:30,600 Speaker 1: would probably hold up under fair use. But then take 752 00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:35,080 Speaker 1: a song like Foil. Foil is a parody of Lord's 753 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:39,680 Speaker 1: song Royals, so it's using the music and lyrical structure 754 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:42,800 Speaker 1: of Royals. You know, they change the actual lyrics, but 755 00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:46,640 Speaker 1: it's the same rhyme, scheme and scanshion of Royals. But 756 00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:51,919 Speaker 1: the song Foil isn't a commentary on Royals. Instead, it's 757 00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:54,879 Speaker 1: a comedic song about aluminum foil. And I'm pretty sure 758 00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:58,040 Speaker 1: you couldn't make an argument that it's somehow commenting on 759 00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:01,400 Speaker 1: the original work, which means that would be harder to 760 00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:03,920 Speaker 1: defend as fair use. It's not a bad song, by 761 00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:07,120 Speaker 1: the way. This isn't a commentary on the quality of 762 00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:10,279 Speaker 1: the parody, but rather whether it would fall under the 763 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:13,360 Speaker 1: consideration of fair use or not. Now, to be clear, 764 00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:16,120 Speaker 1: weird Al makes it a practice to get permission to 765 00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:20,600 Speaker 1: do his parodies before he does them. He licenses the songs. 766 00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:24,600 Speaker 1: In cases like smells like Nirvana, he might have been 767 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:28,680 Speaker 1: able to skip that step, or more likely his music 768 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:31,920 Speaker 1: label would have if they were, you know, willing to 769 00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:34,960 Speaker 1: defend any lawsuits that came their way as a result, 770 00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:38,720 Speaker 1: But as both a courtesy and kind of the necessity, 771 00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:43,560 Speaker 1: he reaches out before recording parodies. Usually, um, there's at 772 00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:45,960 Speaker 1: least one version of this where things didn't work out, 773 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:47,719 Speaker 1: though actually there's a couple I can think of, but 774 00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:50,560 Speaker 1: I'm gonna mention one in particular. So back in two 775 00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:53,600 Speaker 1: thousand six, weird Al Yankovic was working on an album 776 00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:56,120 Speaker 1: and he wanted to include a parody of the James 777 00:47:56,120 --> 00:48:01,000 Speaker 1: Blunt song You're Beautiful. Yankovic's version is a parody called 778 00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:05,000 Speaker 1: You're Pitiful about a middle aged dude who's seriously down 779 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:08,520 Speaker 1: on his luck. Blunt was receptive and he gave the 780 00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:13,560 Speaker 1: go ahead to Yankovic, But as Yankovic's album neared publication, 781 00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:18,080 Speaker 1: Blunt's record label, Atlantic Records, reached out to Yankovic's label 782 00:48:18,239 --> 00:48:21,840 Speaker 1: and demanded that the song not appear on the album, 783 00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:24,960 Speaker 1: and you know, music labels typically hold the i P 784 00:48:25,719 --> 00:48:29,680 Speaker 1: for the actual songs of an artist. In this case 785 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:33,280 Speaker 1: is a little more complicated than that. So getting permission 786 00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:37,480 Speaker 1: from Blunt, while a good thing, wasn't totally legally binding. 787 00:48:38,280 --> 00:48:42,239 Speaker 1: Blunt probably could have pushed back on Atlantic Records about this, 788 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:44,960 Speaker 1: but that's not exactly an easy thing to do when 789 00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:46,839 Speaker 1: you're an artist. I mean, you you want to work 790 00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:48,960 Speaker 1: with your label. You don't want that to be a 791 00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:55,200 Speaker 1: confrontational relationship. And as I mentioned earlier, defending fair use 792 00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:58,840 Speaker 1: is expensive because it all goes to that consideration of 793 00:48:58,840 --> 00:49:01,880 Speaker 1: a court, and that means lawyers and lawyers have fees, 794 00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:05,240 Speaker 1: and so defending an instance as fair use in court 795 00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:09,759 Speaker 1: can mean that you're paying thousands or tens of thousands 796 00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:14,400 Speaker 1: of dollars in fees just to defend yourself. There's a 797 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:19,560 Speaker 1: financial disincentive to the average person because again, these laws 798 00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:23,680 Speaker 1: were made with corporations in mind, big entities that can 799 00:49:23,719 --> 00:49:27,080 Speaker 1: afford these kind of things. The average person can't. So 800 00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:31,280 Speaker 1: corporations like music labels or publishers have you know, entire 801 00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:33,880 Speaker 1: teams of lawyers who do this stuff all the time, 802 00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:37,000 Speaker 1: they can put pressure on folks with threats of lawsuits, 803 00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:39,759 Speaker 1: and even if those folks are in the right, you know, 804 00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:43,520 Speaker 1: even if their works clearly would fall under fair use, 805 00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:47,480 Speaker 1: to defend it in court could be way too expensive 806 00:49:47,760 --> 00:49:50,760 Speaker 1: for these individuals to afford it. There have been cases 807 00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:54,000 Speaker 1: in which people have settled out of court for thousands 808 00:49:54,080 --> 00:49:56,960 Speaker 1: of dollars, not because they felt they were legit and 809 00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:59,600 Speaker 1: the wrong, but because trying to prove that they were 810 00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:03,279 Speaker 1: in a of infringement was more expensive than settling. It's 811 00:50:03,320 --> 00:50:07,040 Speaker 1: pretty darn brutal. Now, what about all those posts and 812 00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:10,759 Speaker 1: YouTube videos that say no copyright infringement intended? Those are 813 00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:14,040 Speaker 1: pretty much worthless. It's akin to posting on Facebook that 814 00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:16,879 Speaker 1: you aren't giving Facebook the rights to your data. That's 815 00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:19,799 Speaker 1: also useless because just by signing on to Facebook and 816 00:50:19,840 --> 00:50:22,680 Speaker 1: making an account, you have to agree to Facebook's terms 817 00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,799 Speaker 1: of service. That kind of supersedes your little post that 818 00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:28,400 Speaker 1: says you're not in favor of Facebook using your data. 819 00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:32,279 Speaker 1: Facebook's responses, too bad, because you agreed to it by 820 00:50:32,320 --> 00:50:35,120 Speaker 1: being on the platform. Now that's part of our terms 821 00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:38,000 Speaker 1: of service. If you don't want us to take your data, 822 00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:41,280 Speaker 1: don't be on Facebook. That's kind of the way that works. 823 00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:43,319 Speaker 1: So if you come across a video that says no 824 00:50:43,440 --> 00:50:47,480 Speaker 1: copyright infringement intended, or a picture on Instagram that clearly 825 00:50:47,840 --> 00:50:51,120 Speaker 1: doesn't belong to the account that posted it, just note 826 00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:55,120 Speaker 1: that that phrase means nothing. Intent is not part of 827 00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:58,480 Speaker 1: determining whether someone is infringing copyright in the first place. 828 00:50:58,719 --> 00:51:02,719 Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what you intend. There's definitely a gradient 829 00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:05,840 Speaker 1: when it comes to copyright infringement. Like if I include 830 00:51:05,880 --> 00:51:09,480 Speaker 1: half of a music video online, that's copyright infringement. But 831 00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:12,799 Speaker 1: if I include the whole thing, that is worse. And 832 00:51:12,880 --> 00:51:15,560 Speaker 1: if I monetize the video where I do it, that's 833 00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:19,600 Speaker 1: even worse. But even that smallest first example I gave 834 00:51:19,719 --> 00:51:22,680 Speaker 1: is still infringing. Doesn't matter whether I think it is 835 00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:26,160 Speaker 1: or not. You know, if I can think something's not 836 00:51:26,239 --> 00:51:28,719 Speaker 1: a crime, but if legally it's a crime, it doesn't 837 00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:31,279 Speaker 1: really matter what I think. There are a lot of 838 00:51:31,280 --> 00:51:33,000 Speaker 1: other things I need to say about this, but one 839 00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:35,000 Speaker 1: thing I want to sum up with right here before 840 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:37,560 Speaker 1: I close out, and we will pick back up in 841 00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:41,040 Speaker 1: the next episode, is that Tom Scott did a great 842 00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:44,400 Speaker 1: job exploring the issues of copyright and YouTube in particular, 843 00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:46,720 Speaker 1: and I'll look more at YouTube. In the next episode, 844 00:51:47,239 --> 00:51:51,440 Speaker 1: he did in a video titled YouTube's copyright system Isn't broken, 845 00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:55,040 Speaker 1: the World's is, and shout out to listener Kat, who 846 00:51:55,080 --> 00:51:57,880 Speaker 1: first turned me onto Tom Scott's videos. Scott does what 847 00:51:57,960 --> 00:52:01,080 Speaker 1: I do, only he does it with British accent, so 848 00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:03,640 Speaker 1: he's better at it than I am by default. Also, 849 00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:06,960 Speaker 1: he's genuinely good at explaining stuff like this, so make 850 00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:09,279 Speaker 1: sure you check that out. And we'll come back to 851 00:52:09,360 --> 00:52:13,080 Speaker 1: talk more about YouTube and copyright infringement and content i 852 00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:15,160 Speaker 1: D and some of the laws that have been passed 853 00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:19,400 Speaker 1: after big media companies have lobbied Congress in the United 854 00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:23,279 Speaker 1: States that have changed the way information gets shared on 855 00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:26,960 Speaker 1: the Internet. We'll also talk about some of the crazy 856 00:52:27,160 --> 00:52:30,400 Speaker 1: movements that companies have made against individuals and an effort 857 00:52:30,400 --> 00:52:33,880 Speaker 1: to crack down on things like piracy. Because all this 858 00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:36,840 Speaker 1: is tied up together and it's all a mess, and 859 00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:39,319 Speaker 1: really what it boils down to is that copyright law 860 00:52:39,320 --> 00:52:45,000 Speaker 1: itself is in dire need of a full rewrite. But 861 00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:49,640 Speaker 1: that's dangerous because the parties that are particularly interested in 862 00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:52,600 Speaker 1: a rewrite of copyright law are not looking to make 863 00:52:52,640 --> 00:52:57,359 Speaker 1: it better. They're looking to make it last longer. That's 864 00:52:57,360 --> 00:52:59,960 Speaker 1: it for this episode. Later this week, we'll pick back 865 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:04,600 Speaker 1: up with more about copyright, fair use, and piracy and 866 00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:07,799 Speaker 1: things of that nature, and talk about the problems that 867 00:53:07,880 --> 00:53:11,240 Speaker 1: technology have created for companies as well as the problems 868 00:53:11,320 --> 00:53:16,319 Speaker 1: companies have placed upon people and more so. I hope 869 00:53:16,320 --> 00:53:19,040 Speaker 1: you enjoyed this. You have any requests for things I 870 00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:21,600 Speaker 1: should cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, reach out 871 00:53:21,600 --> 00:53:23,719 Speaker 1: to me on Twitter. The handle for the show is 872 00:53:23,840 --> 00:53:26,640 Speaker 1: text Stuff H s W and I'll talk to you 873 00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:36,680 Speaker 1: again really soon. Tex Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 874 00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:39,719 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the i 875 00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:43,080 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 876 00:53:43,120 --> 00:53:44,000 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.