1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: and how the tech are you up Here? In the 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: United States? It is Martin Luther King Junior Day, and 6 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: that means that we have the day off work, so 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: we're going to do a rerun today because I'm I'm 8 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: not I'm not working today. So this episode originally published 9 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: in one and I keep wanting to say that's last year, 10 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:43,480 Speaker 1: but I kind of remind myself it's not two anymore. Yeah, 11 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 1: this came out may see is called copyright and fair use. 12 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: I feel it's always important to revisit this topic because 13 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: it's a it's one that's a little complicated, and I 14 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: think a lot of people have misconceptions about what fair 15 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: use is and how it works. So enjoy and I'll 16 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: chat with you a little bit at the very end. 17 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,320 Speaker 1: It has been a while since I've done an episode 18 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: about the concepts of copyright and fair use. And after 19 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:18,679 Speaker 1: I keep seeing the phrase no copyright infringement intended over 20 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: and over on places like YouTube and Instagram, I figure 21 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: it's a good time to tackle this again, because people 22 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: continue to pretend like copyright infringement only applies under very 23 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: specific circumstances and that with just a little bit of 24 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:40,680 Speaker 1: verbiage you can get around it, when really the opposite 25 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: is true. And since the Internet and technology allows for 26 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 1: more opportunities for a copyright infringement, and because various governments 27 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: and around the world have passed legislation to you know, 28 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: specifically tackle copyright infringement, and companies have lobbied endlessly for 29 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: more restrictive copyright rules, I think it fits the scope 30 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: of tech stuff, particularly since a lot of these laws 31 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: were formed in reaction to changes in technology. So first, 32 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: let's kind of define what copyright is now. Essentially, copyright 33 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: guarantees the creator of a work or an entity that 34 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: has been designated by the creator of the work, the 35 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: right to profit off of that work, the right to 36 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:36,519 Speaker 1: make copies of that work and then distribute or sell them, 37 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: or you know, you just you own that intellectual property. 38 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,800 Speaker 1: No one else can come and make copies of it 39 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: without your permission. The works in this case range from 40 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:52,359 Speaker 1: the written word to music, to paintings, sculpture, uh to 41 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:56,359 Speaker 1: digital files. I mean, copyright now applies to lots of stuff. Clearly, 42 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: it didn't apply to all of that in the beginning. 43 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,919 Speaker 1: But something that has a voulved over time. It does 44 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: not include inventions. Those are covered under patent law. And 45 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: then you also have things like trademarks, which make things 46 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: more complicated. I might talk about trademarks and copyright in 47 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 1: a future episode to kind of talk about how those 48 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: complicate things because companies have tried to use trademarks in 49 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: order to extend copyright protection. But trademarks last in perpetuity. 50 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: Copyright only lasts a certain amount of time, at least 51 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: in theory. We'll get to all that. So along with 52 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: the right to profit from intellectual property comes with it 53 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: protections against others who are taking a work and profiting 54 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: off of it without permission. Now you can see the 55 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: value of this concept right away, I imagine. So let's 56 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: say you are a musician and you write a song. 57 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: It was your work, you create the whole piece, You 58 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: wrote the music, and you wrote the lyrics, and you 59 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: plan to earn money through this song. Maybe you're going 60 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: to record it to some form of media and then 61 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: sell copies of the song. So you filed a copyright 62 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: for the song, which gives you the exclusive rights to 63 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: make copies of it uh in whatever format you like, 64 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,280 Speaker 1: whether it's digital files or physical media, or even like 65 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:27,599 Speaker 1: sheet music. You can charge whatever you like for your work, 66 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: though obviously if you go bonkers and you ask for 67 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,039 Speaker 1: a ridiculously high price, you aren't likely to get a 68 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: lot of takers. You also have the protection should someone 69 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: else start making copies of your song without your permission. 70 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,160 Speaker 1: Maybe they are performing it themselves, in which case they 71 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: should secure a license first, or maybe they're taking your 72 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: original recording and just duplicating it. So let's say that 73 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: you created an MP three file and they just copy 74 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: the MP three file endlessly and start either giving it 75 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: away or selling it to people. You could sue that person, 76 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 1: and in court you could prove that you hold the 77 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,920 Speaker 1: copyright to that piece of music, and assuming the court 78 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: agrees with that the copyright is legitimate, you could then 79 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: seek damages against the person or entity that made the 80 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: unauthorized copies of your work. Music is actually really a 81 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,799 Speaker 1: special case because you can have multiple copyrights on the work. 82 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: You could have one for the lyrics, then you could 83 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: have another for the musical composition itself, and that would 84 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,080 Speaker 1: mean that someone who wanted to play your music but 85 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 1: change the lyrics would still potentially be liable for copyright violations. 86 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:44,720 Speaker 1: But we're going to get back to that a little 87 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,160 Speaker 1: bit later in this episode, but it is something to 88 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: keep in mind. However, Then there are such things as 89 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: mechanical licenses. This sets out the rules for stuff like 90 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: playing recorded music in particular places. So if you've ever 91 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: been to like a restaurant or a theater and you've 92 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:06,040 Speaker 1: heard music being played over the sound system, chances are 93 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: that that place of business has paid out a license 94 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: fee in order to be able to do that. Intellectual 95 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: property rights get pretty complicated. Uh. It also depends upon 96 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 1: the size of the venue. I might have to do 97 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:24,679 Speaker 1: a future episode to kind of talk about all the exceptions, because, 98 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: as I said, it does get complicated, and in some cases, 99 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 1: if it's a very small venue, Uh, they can sometimes 100 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:33,919 Speaker 1: be exempt from having to pay the same sort of 101 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: license fees that larger venues have to pay. And part 102 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: of the argument there is that the number of people 103 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: who would actually experience the music is much smaller because 104 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: the venue is smaller. Anyway, in the old days, as 105 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: in before the printing press, copyright wasn't really that big 106 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: of a thing, like, there wasn't a big concern for it. 107 00:06:55,279 --> 00:07:00,280 Speaker 1: There were predecessors for formal copyright, but truthfully, there wasn't 108 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: much occasion to use them because the act of copying 109 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:07,599 Speaker 1: a work involved actually making a copy out by hand, 110 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: handwriting the copy of a written work. This was a 111 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: painstaking process and not something that could be done on 112 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: any sort of scale, and so copyright wasn't as huge 113 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: a concern just because infringement itself was not something that 114 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: was easy to do. And to that the fact that 115 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: much of the world's population was illiterate and there just 116 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: wasn't a foundation for copyright infringement to really take hold. 117 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: Then a smarty pants named Johann Gutenberg had to go 118 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: and invent the movable type printing press, at least the 119 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: European version. I should stress that Europe, because other parts 120 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: of the world were actually further advanced with printing technologies 121 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: than Europe was. But this is the one that Western 122 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: cultures tend to talk about because we get a little myopic. 123 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: But i'll i'll set aside the commentary. So with the 124 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: printing press, it became possible to set the type on 125 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: the press then print out sheets one after the other 126 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: in relatively quick succession. Now, it still took time to 127 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: set the press between pages because you had to change 128 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: all the type out right. You had to remove all 129 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: the type, set the type again, and then print the 130 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: next sheet. So you would typically use the press to 131 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: print a bunch of the same sheet in a row 132 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:24,480 Speaker 1: before you would reset the type and move on to 133 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: the next sheet. However, you could also use a single 134 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: large sheet of paper to set up multiple pages of text, 135 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: and so you could divide up the quadrants of a 136 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,840 Speaker 1: printing press and change the type up so that you 137 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: are actually creating multiple pages per press. And then you 138 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: fold the paper in such a way that that makes 139 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: all sense, Like if you fold it once along a 140 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: vertical line, so you you fold it in half vertically. Um, 141 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 1: then are along the vertical access, I should say. Then 142 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: you end up with a folio that was a single 143 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: large sheet of paper that would have one page printed 144 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: on the left side, one page printed on the right side. 145 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: You have a vertical fold in the middle, and then 146 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: you can just keep printing those over and over again, 147 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: and then you bind a bunch of those together and 148 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:20,400 Speaker 1: you've got a book, or you could do a double fold, 149 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,079 Speaker 1: and you could have a quarto, which would also involve 150 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,559 Speaker 1: you having to make a cut along the horizontal line. 151 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: But then you've got four pages per sheet, so you 152 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: could do that and that it means that with one 153 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: press you're effectively printing four pages, and then you let 154 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: it dry, you flip it over and you can print 155 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 1: another four pages. Very useful. So this was these were 156 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: different ways that you could end up creating books fairly quickly. 157 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: The process of publishing became much faster than with people 158 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: doing it by hand, but there wasn't yet a formalized 159 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:57,680 Speaker 1: protection in place for the creator of the works. And 160 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 1: at this point, the typical approach was for an author 161 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,840 Speaker 1: to receive a flat fee for their work, which would 162 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:08,640 Speaker 1: then go to a book printer to produce, so the 163 00:10:08,679 --> 00:10:12,040 Speaker 1: printer would take ownership of that work from that point forward. 164 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: Then it was just a matter of time before other 165 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: printers would get hold of the book and start making 166 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: their own copies, at least for books that proved to 167 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: be popular for authors. There really wasn't a whole lot 168 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 1: of profit in this approach. William Shakespeare, who you know, 169 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: you could argue was one of the greatest English writers, 170 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: mostly known for his plays but also his poetry, He 171 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 1: never sought out the printing of his plays. Others would 172 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: give it a shot. Either they would try to copy 173 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: down plays as they were being performed and then go 174 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,280 Speaker 1: and print what they had transcribed, or they would try 175 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: to get hold of the sides that actors were using 176 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: in their roles, or a combination of the two. It 177 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:56,199 Speaker 1: was really only after Shakespeare's death that his friends got 178 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: together and did their best to gather his plays and 179 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: publish them. Now, based on what I know about Shakespeare, 180 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,480 Speaker 1: I suspect the reason that he did not seek out 181 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 1: publication of his works was that it really wasn't where 182 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: the money would be for him. He would get a 183 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 1: pay the flat fee for every play he wrote, but 184 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: more importantly, he was a part owner of the theater itself, 185 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: like the Globe Theater or the Rose Theater. He was 186 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: part of the company that owned the theater, so that 187 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: meant he would actually take a share of the box office. So, 188 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: in other words, his main goal was to attract crowds 189 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 1: to the theater. That's where the money was. But you 190 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:39,120 Speaker 1: can bet that if there had been serious money in 191 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,360 Speaker 1: publication back in those days, Shakespeare would have been all 192 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: over it because a quick glance at some of the 193 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 1: lawsuits he was involved with during his lifetime indicates he 194 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:51,880 Speaker 1: had a certain appreciation for the accumulation of wealth. So Shakespeare, 195 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:56,840 Speaker 1: great artist, also a business guy, and had publishing been 196 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,959 Speaker 1: a bigger business for the author, he certainly would have 197 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 1: gone that route. I'm sure of it. Now. The printing 198 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: press was a truly transformational piece of technology. It became 199 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:11,440 Speaker 1: easier to produce many copies of a work book. Printing businesses, 200 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:15,559 Speaker 1: which would evolve into true publishing houses, began to pop 201 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: up all over Europe, and the powers that be, that is, 202 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 1: the Church and the various governments of Europe viewed book 203 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:26,840 Speaker 1: printers as both an asset and a potential threat. Through 204 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:31,439 Speaker 1: the printers, these organizations could spread information quickly. The Bible 205 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: was a very early candidate for printing, as the Guttenberg Bible. 206 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,199 Speaker 1: Prooves and governments could use printing presses to spread information 207 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: about laws and declarations and that kind of thing. But 208 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: printing presses also meant it was easier to print stuff 209 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:50,079 Speaker 1: that undermined authority. People who had a boned pick with 210 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,319 Speaker 1: the folks who were in charge could potentially spread their 211 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: ideas and maybe find sympathetic souls who shared those same beliefs. 212 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 1: So the printing press could enable existential threats to the 213 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 1: power structure. And this is where we get a predecessor 214 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: to copyright. Now, this predecessor wasn't so much about making 215 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: sure the author of a book was fairly compensated. Instead, 216 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: it was more about keeping printing houses under control. The 217 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:22,520 Speaker 1: basic idea was that any business that wished to print 218 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:26,720 Speaker 1: materials had to first secure an official license from, you know, 219 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:31,400 Speaker 1: the government of that region. These licenses typically meant that 220 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,520 Speaker 1: a specific printer would be responsible for the printing of 221 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: particular works to the exclusion of all other printers. So 222 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: you might say that this one printer can print this 223 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,839 Speaker 1: one book, and no other printer in the region is 224 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: allowed to do that, so they have a monopoly on 225 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,720 Speaker 1: that specific title. In fact, they called the monopolies. These 226 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: agreements would last a set number of years, which wasn't 227 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,600 Speaker 1: too different from the concept of modern copyrights. If any 228 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: other printer was found to produce a work that some 229 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: other printer had exclusive rights to, that matter could go 230 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 1: to court. But this was all about the printing houses, 231 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: not authors. England passed its first actual copyright law in 232 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: seventeen ten. This law changed things quite a bit. A 233 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: publisher would have a fourteen year period of exclusive rights 234 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:25,880 Speaker 1: to publish any new book. Existing books that the printing 235 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 1: house was already printing would enjoy protection for twenty one years. 236 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: After that, the author of the work could choose to 237 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: renew the copyright if the author was still alive. Otherwise 238 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: the work would enter into the public domain, meaning anyone 239 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: would be legally allowed to make a copy of that 240 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: work or use it in any way they liked. There 241 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,320 Speaker 1: were no longer any protections on that piece of work, 242 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 1: and it was available for any public use. The United 243 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: States wouldn't get its first true copyright law until nearly 244 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 1: a century later. But let's be fair, there was no 245 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: such thing as the United States in seventeen ten, so 246 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,360 Speaker 1: I'm gonna cut the Young Nations some slack here. The 247 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: copyright law of the US followed closely in the footsteps 248 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:13,280 Speaker 1: of the Copyright Act of Britain, which was also known 249 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: as the Statute of Ann as in Queen Anne. So 250 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 1: the way that the US law worked was that an 251 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 1: author would register their work with the U. S District 252 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 1: Court of their particular region, and they would in return 253 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: receive an exclusive copyright for fourteen years, with the option 254 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: to renew for a second fourteen year period, and after 255 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:37,200 Speaker 1: those twenty eight years, assuming that you actually renewed your copyright, 256 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: the work would then enter into the public domain with 257 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 1: the Statute of ann and the Copyright Act of seventeen 258 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:45,840 Speaker 1: ninety in the US or at the point where authors 259 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: would get a little more protection and a chance to 260 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: benefit more from their own work. It was no longer 261 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: the case of a one time flat fee in every instance. Now, 262 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: I say authors, but often we're really still talking about publishers. Here. 263 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,080 Speaker 1: The publisher retains the copyright because the copyright allows the 264 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: publisher to, you know, publish the works. Otherwise the author 265 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 1: would have to grant permission for each printing. You'd have 266 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: to have a license for it. It all gets clunky, right, 267 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 1: that the author has exclusive copyright to their work, they 268 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: have to grant permission to whichever entity is creating copies 269 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 1: of that work. You often see this reflected today in 270 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:27,920 Speaker 1: ways that are kind of confusing. When you agree to 271 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: certain platforms, there's language there that seems to suggest that 272 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: anything you post on that platform is that platform's property. 273 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: But usually the reasoning for the language is to make 274 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: sure that the platform has the necessary permission to display 275 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 1: whatever it is you're posting, because otherwise, every single time 276 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: you posted, you would have to have some sort of 277 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 1: licensing agreement or something that would give permission to the 278 00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: platform to actually display the thing you wrote. It gets 279 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,520 Speaker 1: pretty complicated now. The same would be true for most 280 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: music produced in the modern era. The copyright isn't necessarily 281 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:11,840 Speaker 1: held by the artist, but by a music label. It's 282 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:14,199 Speaker 1: kind of like how Thomas Edison made sure that his 283 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,880 Speaker 1: name was on every patent produced out of his business. 284 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:20,199 Speaker 1: He might not have had a direct hand in the 285 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: creation of every invention. In fact, we know that he 286 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:25,680 Speaker 1: didn't have a direct hand and a lot of them, 287 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 1: but he sure as heck made sure that his signature 288 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: was on the patent to every single one, so that 289 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: he had a right to each of them anyway. One 290 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,919 Speaker 1: of the consequences of all of this is that, to 291 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: this day, getting the permission of an author or artist 292 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:45,680 Speaker 1: in order to use their work typically isn't enough. That's 293 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:50,200 Speaker 1: because in many cases that individual creator doesn't actually hold 294 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:54,640 Speaker 1: the copyright to the work. It's more likely that some 295 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:59,520 Speaker 1: corporate entity will hold the copyright on behalf of that creator. 296 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 1: So you really have to get the permission of whatever 297 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:06,679 Speaker 1: entity holds the copyright for any specific intellectual property. In 298 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 1: some cases it might be an individual creator, in other 299 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:14,000 Speaker 1: cases it might be a big company. So let's say 300 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: if you met an artist for Disney in a cafe 301 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: and this artist told you, oh, it's totally cool if 302 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:25,679 Speaker 1: you use they're drawing of a popular Disney character for 303 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,919 Speaker 1: something you're doing, that's probably not good enough because that 304 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:35,399 Speaker 1: artist wouldn't even hold the copyright for that work. Disney would, 305 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,239 Speaker 1: and copyright laws would evolve quite a lot over the 306 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 1: following centuries. They expanded to include more types of works, 307 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:47,199 Speaker 1: as well as to allow for things like licenses, And 308 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:50,159 Speaker 1: without these considerations, it might be illegal to, you know, 309 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,679 Speaker 1: play playback an album without first getting permission of the 310 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:56,960 Speaker 1: music label, which is clearly absurd. You wouldn't have it 311 00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: where you bought an album, you went home, and every 312 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: time you were to play the album, you first had 313 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 1: to get permission from the music label to do that. 314 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 1: That just doesn't make sense. But that's the sort of 315 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: stuff that actually had to be codified into law. It's 316 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 1: you know, it's not enough to just everyone agree like, 317 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: oh well, that's absurd. It actually had to be written 318 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: down somewhere and ratified. One of the biggest changes to 319 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:28,119 Speaker 1: copyright has been how long that copyright protection lasts. This 320 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: also ties into how many capitalist societies treat corporations, which 321 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,440 Speaker 1: is uh ridiculously in my mind. So here in the 322 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:41,520 Speaker 1: United States in particular, corporations are treated legally like a person. 323 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: But if you think about that's kind of bonkers more 324 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:47,200 Speaker 1: than kind of bankers. I should say, people get old, 325 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,920 Speaker 1: people pass away. Corporations, Assuming that they are run well 326 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: and they provide some sort of goods or services that 327 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:59,480 Speaker 1: people want or need, they can exist indefinitely. And to 328 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 1: corporate and that relies heavily on intellectual property, is quite 329 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: loath to give up that meal ticket, and so corporations 330 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:12,439 Speaker 1: over the years have lobbied hard to extend copyright in 331 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:14,880 Speaker 1: order to prevent the i P that they own from 332 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,199 Speaker 1: falling into the public domain. And then they can no 333 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:23,320 Speaker 1: longer exclusively exploit that i P. They could still exploit it, 334 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:26,920 Speaker 1: they could still sell stuff with it, just it doesn't 335 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 1: stop anyone else from doing the same thing. Perhaps the 336 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: most high profile of all these companies was one that 337 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: seemed fixated on a particular mouse that I've already mentioned. 338 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:48,600 Speaker 1: I'll explain more after this quick break. Before the break, 339 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 1: I tease that corporations played a huge part in lobbying 340 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,439 Speaker 1: Congress to extend the protections of copyright, and one of 341 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,360 Speaker 1: those corporations is the Walt Disney Company and the cultural 342 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:04,320 Speaker 1: phenomenon that is Mickey Mouse. The cartoon Steamboat Willie, which 343 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 1: was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, was released in nineteen 344 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 1: twenty eight. Now, at that time, US copyright law had 345 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,639 Speaker 1: a twenty eight year protection limit, which could then be 346 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 1: renewed for a second twenty eight year term, which would 347 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:24,000 Speaker 1: provide a total of fifty six years of copyright exclusivity 348 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,560 Speaker 1: to the owner of an i P. But then the 349 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,719 Speaker 1: i P would enter the public domain. That means that 350 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 1: if copyright law had remained unchanged since Steamboat Willie, Steamboat 351 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: Willie would have entered the public domain back in nineteen 352 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: eight four. Spoiler alert, As of the recording of this podcast, 353 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:47,479 Speaker 1: Steamboat Willie is not in the public domain yet, so 354 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:51,160 Speaker 1: things did not remain the same. By the nineteen seventies, 355 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 1: the Disney Company was lobbying hard to change copyright laws, 356 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: and I want to be clear they weren't the only ones, 357 00:21:58,320 --> 00:22:04,120 Speaker 1: but you freaquently here Disney specifically in regard to lobbying 358 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: for copyright law extensions, and it worked. Congress changed the 359 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:12,119 Speaker 1: copyright protection so that copyrights that were held by individual 360 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:17,119 Speaker 1: authors protection would last the lifetime of that author plus 361 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,639 Speaker 1: another fifty years. So now we're well beyond guaranteeing the 362 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 1: right of a person to profit off of their work. 363 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:28,359 Speaker 1: Right now, you're saying you're guaranteeing that multiple generations of 364 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: an author's family can continue to benefit from the work 365 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 1: of the author. The author will be dead and fifty 366 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:38,960 Speaker 1: years will pass, and until those fifty years are up, 367 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: the estate will continue to benefit monetarily from that author's work, 368 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,879 Speaker 1: assuming that you know people are still buying it. Obviously, 369 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:50,760 Speaker 1: if it falls out of favor and no one's purchasing anything, 370 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:56,040 Speaker 1: then those rights, while they're important, don't actually leverage into 371 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: any kind of monetary gain. But this is where I 372 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:01,919 Speaker 1: start feeling a little weird about all this, because I 373 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 1: think it's one thing to want to provide for your family, 374 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:09,359 Speaker 1: right you want to earn money and help contribute to 375 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 1: your family or households well being. But it's another to 376 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:18,200 Speaker 1: create generational wealth that removes the need for future generations 377 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:22,080 Speaker 1: to you know, make any sort of meaningful contribution themselves. 378 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:26,400 Speaker 1: There are lots of cases where the children of authors 379 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:31,159 Speaker 1: who were incredibly successful, uh have themselves gone on to 380 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: do amazing things, which is great. But there are also 381 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:37,880 Speaker 1: cases of people who just kind of, you know, never 382 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: bothered to do anything because they didn't really have a 383 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,199 Speaker 1: need to. They were all of their needs were already 384 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: met because they were earning income on something that their 385 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: parents or grandparents or great grandparents had done, and there 386 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:57,120 Speaker 1: never was any need for them to do anything. Not 387 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:02,879 Speaker 1: super helpful for the general society. Not very healthy in 388 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: my mind anyway. For corporations that owned i P. It 389 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: was a different story, right, because corporations don't die, so 390 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:14,119 Speaker 1: you can't say the life of a corporation plus fifty years. 391 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:18,200 Speaker 1: So in this case, the Copyright Protection extended the term 392 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,239 Speaker 1: for works that had been published before nineteen to a 393 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,800 Speaker 1: total term of seventy five years of protection. UH. The 394 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:29,520 Speaker 1: Copyright Extension pushed that that protection of Steamboat Willie to 395 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: two thousand three because of that, because it was published 396 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,879 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy five years later would be up to 397 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:40,080 Speaker 1: two thousand three. However, in nineteen Congress passed the Copyright 398 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:44,399 Speaker 1: Term Extension Act, also known as the Sunny Bono Copyright 399 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: Term Extension Act, after the late congressman and musicians Sonny 400 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,360 Speaker 1: Bono Bono had passed away in an accident while Congress 401 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 1: was hashing out this extension bill, so he was posthumously 402 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 1: honored with the title of the the Act. This act 403 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,920 Speaker 1: extended the copy of right protection for any work published 404 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty three or later. And the extension meant 405 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,359 Speaker 1: that the copyright protection now went from the life of 406 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,600 Speaker 1: the author plus fifty years to the life of the 407 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,879 Speaker 1: author plus seventy years for those works that were created 408 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,399 Speaker 1: by an individual artist. And it meant for works of 409 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:24,520 Speaker 1: corporate authorship, you know, works that like Steamboat Willie from Disney, 410 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: they went from having seventy five years of protection to 411 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: either ninety five years after publication or one twenty years 412 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,359 Speaker 1: from the date of creation, whichever ended earlier. So you know, 413 00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 1: corporate corporations might create something but not yet publish it. 414 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,919 Speaker 1: So in some cases you would actually have a shorter 415 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: period between time of creation and a hundred twenty years 416 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: than time of publication in ninety five years. Anyway, any 417 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,240 Speaker 1: published work before nineteen seventy eight would get an additional 418 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 1: twenty years of copyright protection, so they went from seventy 419 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: five years to ninety five years, and those extra twenty 420 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 1: years meant that Steamboat Willie will now enter public domain 421 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,720 Speaker 1: essentially at the beginning of twenty twenty four, unless between 422 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,200 Speaker 1: now and then there's yet another change to copyright law, 423 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: which seems highly unlikely because there is a large opposition 424 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: to that. Since the Copyright Act I've mentioned so far 425 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:23,639 Speaker 1: retroactively protected any work published after nineteen twenty three, it 426 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,400 Speaker 1: meant that we finally saw some published works go into 427 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:31,360 Speaker 1: the public domain beginning in twenty nineteen. So on January one, 428 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, any copyrighted works that were published in nineteen 429 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,919 Speaker 1: twenty three, with a few exceptions that have to do 430 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,480 Speaker 1: with music because music is complicated otherwise, they entered the 431 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,160 Speaker 1: public domain at that point. This was the first time 432 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:46,879 Speaker 1: in twenty one years and a large collection of works 433 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,119 Speaker 1: fell out of copyright protection and into the public domain 434 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,880 Speaker 1: only because of the timing of changes to copyright law 435 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:57,440 Speaker 1: in the United States, So works from nineteen twenty two 436 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,440 Speaker 1: had entered the public domain back in nineteen nine eight, 437 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,439 Speaker 1: but then you had the change the copyright law, and 438 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,880 Speaker 1: so any works from nineteen three enjoyed twenty more years 439 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,160 Speaker 1: of protection because of that recent extension, and thus they 440 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 1: only entered the public domain in twenty nineteen. That's the 441 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,600 Speaker 1: difference that a single year can make. This year in 442 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 1: one we saw works like f Scott Fitzgerald's The Great 443 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: Gatsby go into the public domain. You can now make 444 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: as many copies of The Great Gatsby as you like. 445 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: You can hand them out for free. You could charge 446 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: for them if you want to. It's public domain. Dr 447 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: Doolittle's Zoo also went into public domain this year. Agatha 448 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,880 Speaker 1: Christie's The Secret of Chimneys made its exit from copyright protection. 449 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,840 Speaker 1: The nineteen twenty five silent film version of been Her, 450 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:48,399 Speaker 1: not the Charlton Heston version, but the silent film version 451 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: is in public domain, as is Lawn Cheney's The Phantom 452 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,359 Speaker 1: of the Opera. Also, the silent film version of Wizard Oz. 453 00:27:55,520 --> 00:28:00,440 Speaker 1: Again not the big musical version, you know, not the 454 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,359 Speaker 1: the follow the Yellow Brick Road version, but the silent 455 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:05,359 Speaker 1: film version of Wizard of Oz is also in the 456 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:07,959 Speaker 1: public domain this year. Now, that means that if you 457 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: want to make copies of Lawn Cheney's Pohntom of the 458 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:12,639 Speaker 1: Opera and you want to distribute those widely, if you 459 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 1: want to post the entire movie on YouTube, you can. 460 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:21,240 Speaker 1: You can do it for free. You could also, you know, 461 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,440 Speaker 1: sell DVDs of it if you wanted to, you could. 462 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,359 Speaker 1: You could have press DVDs with Lawn Cheney's Pountom of 463 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: the Opera and you could sell them. I don't know 464 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:33,080 Speaker 1: if anyone would buy them, but you can do it. 465 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:35,320 Speaker 1: You can do it here, you can do it there, 466 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,280 Speaker 1: you can do it everywhere in the US anyway, it 467 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: is no longer in copyright now, backtracking just a little bit, 468 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: the printing press had made copyright protection more or less 469 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: a necessity to prevent publishers from pouncing on each other 470 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 1: and flooding the market with copies of various books. But 471 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 1: for a really long time, copyright was just something that 472 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,560 Speaker 1: big companies were mostly concerned with. It was a non 473 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,840 Speaker 1: fact for the average person. I mean, it affected us, 474 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,560 Speaker 1: but we didn't come into any sort of conflict with 475 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 1: copyright protection because most of us just didn't have access 476 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 1: to equipment that we would need to replicate an original work. 477 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: If back in the mid nineteen twenties you managed to 478 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 1: get your grubby hands on a copy of The Great Gatsby, 479 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: you probably didn't have the ability to copy that work 480 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 1: and then sell it to two people yourself, you know, 481 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: like undercutting big bookstores or whatever. Publishing houses were protecting themselves, 482 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,640 Speaker 1: but they were doing so mostly from other publishing houses. 483 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,720 Speaker 1: The average person was not a threat. So the nature 484 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 1: of copyright law was all about corporate entities protecting themselves 485 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 1: from each other. This, by the way, is what kind 486 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,880 Speaker 1: of becomes an issue in the modern day, where you've 487 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 1: got the the effect of like a nuclear arsenal, you know, 488 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: corporations against each other that could then be aimed against 489 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:03,280 Speaker 1: the individual because the nature of copying has changed, so 490 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:09,320 Speaker 1: there's a disproportionate hardship on the individual because of that. 491 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 1: So over time, various inventions meant more people would have 492 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 1: the ability to create copies of stuff, And these technological 493 00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: advancements always came hand in hand with media companies freaking 494 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 1: the heck out about it, which is not an exaggeration. 495 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:30,200 Speaker 1: The invention of technologies like cassette tapes or VHS, tapes, 496 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 1: burnable compact discs, and of course, digital media all sent 497 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:40,360 Speaker 1: media companies into a tizzy. Each invention prompted the companies 498 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: to object strenuously and to proclaim that should these technologies 499 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 1: fall into the hands of the common, unwashed masses like myself, 500 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:54,280 Speaker 1: that the era of stuff like film or television or 501 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: popular music would all come to an end and the 502 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: entire industry would crash down on its self, and we 503 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 1: would then be back to banging rocks together for entertainment. 504 00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,840 Speaker 1: News Alert. None of that happened, but in the process 505 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: we saw lots of other laws passed that expanded copyright 506 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:17,520 Speaker 1: protection by creating a pretty extensive framework for prosecution should 507 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: an IP holder discover that someone has copied or distributed 508 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 1: stuff that they hold the rights to without proper authorization. 509 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:30,400 Speaker 1: I will cover more of those in the next episode. Now. 510 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:34,120 Speaker 1: One of the reasons the public domain is important is 511 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,760 Speaker 1: that works can have a great deal of relevance and 512 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: usefulness many years after they were published. Think of all 513 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 1: the classics that are out there that have stood the 514 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:48,840 Speaker 1: test of time. But if copyright lasted forever, these works 515 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: would be under a tight restriction in perpetuity. Public domain 516 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: means that eventually these works will become widely accessible. It's 517 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,240 Speaker 1: balancing out the benefits that go to the I P 518 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 1: holder against the benefits of society as a whole. All right, 519 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:09,800 Speaker 1: But what about fair use? Okay? So, fair use is 520 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: a concept that allows someone to use part of a 521 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: copyrighted work that uh without permission in one of several ways. 522 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:25,120 Speaker 1: And it's fairly narrow in its scope, but also kind 523 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,640 Speaker 1: of fuzzy at the edges. So it's narrow in scope, 524 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,880 Speaker 1: but there are no hard yes or no answers to 525 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,840 Speaker 1: this stuff. In general, fair use allows someone to make 526 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 1: limited use of a portion of a copyrighted work for 527 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: the purposes of news reporting, research, teaching, or criticism and commentary. 528 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,480 Speaker 1: Parody falls into that last category as well, but we're 529 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: gonna come back to that because it's a more specific 530 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:55,320 Speaker 1: approach than just adding funny words to existing music. Fair 531 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: use means that you don't have to secure permission from 532 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 1: the copyright holder if you're using a small portion of 533 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:05,320 Speaker 1: that original work in one of these ways. So, for example, 534 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:09,000 Speaker 1: if I were criticizing a film, I could use small 535 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: clips of that film during my critique. Let's say I'm 536 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 1: uploading a video to YouTube where I am critiquing a movie, 537 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: I could include tiny clips of that film in order 538 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:22,520 Speaker 1: to illustrate specific points of my criticism, and I wouldn't 539 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:26,440 Speaker 1: have to get permission first. The clips I used would 540 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,560 Speaker 1: need to relate directly to that criticism. However, I might 541 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: want to talk about lighting composition, and I'll use clips 542 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: from Robert Egger's film The Lighthouse, because that film had 543 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,920 Speaker 1: phenomenal lighting in it. So I'd use those examples to 544 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,880 Speaker 1: talk about specific lighting techniques and how they shape storytelling 545 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:50,640 Speaker 1: and what significance they play in the unfolding of the 546 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,120 Speaker 1: story of the Lighthouse. But if I were to get 547 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: more loosey goosey, my protection of fair use would not 548 00:33:56,560 --> 00:34:01,000 Speaker 1: be as solid. Similarly, if I would use very short 549 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: clips of the film in my critique, my argument of 550 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 1: fair use is better supported then if I were to say, 551 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:11,360 Speaker 1: include thirty minutes of the movie surrounded by like five 552 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:14,920 Speaker 1: minutes of criticism. Now, does that mean there's a specific 553 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,040 Speaker 1: safe amount of copyrighted material that you can use without 554 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: fear of retribution. No. There is a common misconception that 555 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:26,880 Speaker 1: if you use less than say, fifteen seconds of audio 556 00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:31,279 Speaker 1: from a source or six seconds or whatever that that's 557 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,360 Speaker 1: small enough to be fair use and no one's going 558 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 1: to come after you. That is just not true. Or 559 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,200 Speaker 1: rather it's it's not a guarantee. Specifically, it's not a 560 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:42,680 Speaker 1: guarantee if you're not using that as some form of 561 00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:46,680 Speaker 1: commentary or criticism on the work itself, If you're using 562 00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:50,799 Speaker 1: it as like the button to a moment, you know, 563 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:55,320 Speaker 1: like a sound bite or whatever, there's very little support 564 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,480 Speaker 1: for a fair use argument there. So if I just 565 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:01,200 Speaker 1: filled up this podcast with sound bites from various films 566 00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 1: and music, TV shows and radio spots and stuff like 567 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:08,520 Speaker 1: that without paying a license for all of those things, 568 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:12,240 Speaker 1: I would be flying pretty darn close to the sun. 569 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:17,080 Speaker 1: Because unless I'm using those snippets in very specific ways, 570 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 1: such as to criticize those original works that the snippets 571 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,360 Speaker 1: belong to, or to report on the news of those snippets, 572 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,759 Speaker 1: well I would be infringing on copyright. That doesn't necessarily 573 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 1: mean anyone is going to come after me. I mean, 574 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:36,520 Speaker 1: chances are, for really small stuff, i'd probably be okay 575 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:40,440 Speaker 1: unless my podcast got wildly successful, in which case I 576 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:44,240 Speaker 1: could represent a pretty lucrative target. If the copyright holders 577 00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:47,160 Speaker 1: looked at my podcast and said, well, that show is 578 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,680 Speaker 1: making X million dollars a year, and a lot of 579 00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:54,200 Speaker 1: that popularity, we could argue comes from its use of 580 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 1: our intellectual property. We can get a piece of that 581 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:00,360 Speaker 1: that pie like that. That would be the thought process, 582 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:04,440 Speaker 1: and it could actually work in court. So it doesn't 583 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: mean on bulletproof if I'm just using tiny little clips. 584 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,919 Speaker 1: It's not until it goes to court that I really 585 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 1: know if I'm going to have to pay or not. 586 00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:17,360 Speaker 1: So fair use isn't a concept that has hard borders 587 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 1: to it. It's all interpretive stuff. And here's the key 588 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 1: to all of it. Fair use is something that gets 589 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:27,280 Speaker 1: determined in court. So, in other words, you can't really 590 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:31,680 Speaker 1: use fair use proactively as a defense. It's a defense 591 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 1: that you make if a copyright holder pursues a claim 592 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,440 Speaker 1: against you for copyright infringement. So let's say that I 593 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,000 Speaker 1: did that critique of The Lighthouse and the film company 594 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:45,560 Speaker 1: A twenty four which released and distributed the film here 595 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,800 Speaker 1: in the United States. Let's say that that that company 596 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:52,080 Speaker 1: came after me for copyright infringement, and I would have 597 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:55,840 Speaker 1: to defend my use of those clips in court, and 598 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,440 Speaker 1: I would have to cite fair use in that process. 599 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: Throughout the proceedings, I would likely have to prove that 600 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: the way I use those clips was in fact to 601 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,200 Speaker 1: critique the film, and that the excerpts I used were 602 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:12,719 Speaker 1: appropriate and constituted a relatively small percentage of the overall 603 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:16,799 Speaker 1: critique and a very small percentage of the original film. 604 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,560 Speaker 1: Courts decide on a case by case basis if a 605 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:24,440 Speaker 1: particular instance is fair use or not. There isn't a 606 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:27,800 Speaker 1: blanket fair use defense. You gotta go in front of 607 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:29,279 Speaker 1: the courts to do it. And this is what I 608 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 1: meant by that nuclear arsenal. When it comes to companies 609 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 1: versus companies, typically you have lawyers on both sides who 610 00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:41,719 Speaker 1: are just perpetually employed by these companies that call each 611 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 1: other up and they work things out, and you might 612 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: have a licensing agreement, or you might agree to a settlement, 613 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:52,280 Speaker 1: but it rarely goes to court. When it comes to individuals, 614 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,239 Speaker 1: most of us don't have access to that kind of 615 00:37:55,400 --> 00:38:00,359 Speaker 1: legal defense. So for us, it's like a math sive, 616 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: well funded company with high paid lawyers versus the little guy, 617 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 1: and it means that the little guy has to shell 618 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:12,160 Speaker 1: out the big bucks in order to defend themselves. Against 619 00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:16,480 Speaker 1: the corporations, even if the little guy is totally in 620 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:20,879 Speaker 1: the right, If the the use is inarguably fair use, 621 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,040 Speaker 1: you don't get to that decision magically. You have to 622 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:27,879 Speaker 1: go to court for it, and court is expensive. We're 623 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:31,520 Speaker 1: going to pause the conversation right here, take a quick break, 624 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:41,400 Speaker 1: and we'll be right back now. The courts tend to 625 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:45,560 Speaker 1: look at four factors when deciding if any given instance 626 00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:50,359 Speaker 1: constitutes fair use. One is the purpose and character of 627 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,799 Speaker 1: the use of the original material, including whether the use 628 00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:58,880 Speaker 1: is for a commercial nature or is nonprofit and educational. So, 629 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,760 Speaker 1: in other words, if I'm making videos where I critique 630 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:04,840 Speaker 1: films and I include clips of those films in the videos, 631 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:10,120 Speaker 1: and I'm monetizing those critique videos, that can be a 632 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:12,880 Speaker 1: little bit of a strike against me because I'm using 633 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:16,520 Speaker 1: someone else's work in something on my own in order 634 00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:19,840 Speaker 1: to make money. That's not a failure rail the gate, 635 00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:23,560 Speaker 1: but it does make my argument harder. So it doesn't 636 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:26,080 Speaker 1: mean that a court is going to decide I'm not 637 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:29,719 Speaker 1: engaging in fair use. But in general, if the use 638 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:34,080 Speaker 1: is nonprofit and it's educational, it fits more easily into 639 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,440 Speaker 1: the fair use category, and courts tend to be a 640 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:40,200 Speaker 1: bit more forgiving. Then there's the nature of the copyrighted 641 00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,360 Speaker 1: work itself. In general, it is easier to make a 642 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,840 Speaker 1: fair use argument if the thing you're sampling from is 643 00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:50,880 Speaker 1: a non fictional work. Works that are about creative expression, 644 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,640 Speaker 1: like novels or movies, have a higher burden of proof 645 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:59,279 Speaker 1: than works that are nonfiction. So, for example, in this podcast, 646 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:03,240 Speaker 1: I will some times quote specific sources those are non 647 00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:06,720 Speaker 1: fiction sources, and I quote from them to establish facts. 648 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:11,120 Speaker 1: That's easier to defend as fair use than if I 649 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,719 Speaker 1: were to include, say a minute long audio clip from 650 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 1: a science fiction television show that's a work of fiction. 651 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:21,040 Speaker 1: It's a work of creative endeavors that is harder to 652 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:25,600 Speaker 1: justify as fair use unless I'm specifically critiquing the show itself. 653 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:30,520 Speaker 1: Then comes the amount and substantiality of the portion of 654 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:33,759 Speaker 1: the copyrighted work that I used in my critique of 655 00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:37,000 Speaker 1: The Lighthouse. If I'm using very short clips that just 656 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,640 Speaker 1: show up in my video for like five or ten 657 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:43,400 Speaker 1: seconds each as I talk about lighting techniques, that's easier 658 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,120 Speaker 1: to defend as fair use. I'm not showing a significant 659 00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:48,319 Speaker 1: part of the movie. People aren't going to feel like 660 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:51,600 Speaker 1: they saw the entire film. By watching my critique, they're 661 00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:54,799 Speaker 1: just getting a flavor of what I'm talking about and 662 00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: getting an understanding of what I mean when I'm critiquing 663 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:01,320 Speaker 1: the use of lighting. If I'm, however, using very long 664 00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:06,200 Speaker 1: stretches of the original film, particularly stretches that don't include 665 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:08,840 Speaker 1: changes in lighting, well that's going to be a lot 666 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:13,480 Speaker 1: harder to defend in court. And then there's the effect 667 00:41:13,719 --> 00:41:17,479 Speaker 1: of the use upon the potential market for the copyrighted work. 668 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:21,480 Speaker 1: If my derivative work could possibly hurt the sales of 669 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:26,520 Speaker 1: the original by displacing the sales of that original, that's 670 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,600 Speaker 1: a problem. And this one is a tricky one, right 671 00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:33,280 Speaker 1: because what if I'm not critiquing the technique of a film, 672 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:36,520 Speaker 1: but the quality of a film. And what if I 673 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:39,800 Speaker 1: present a video where I do an extensive tear down 674 00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:43,200 Speaker 1: of a movie and I explain how I think it 675 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:46,200 Speaker 1: is not a good film, or I'm arguing that people 676 00:41:46,239 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 1: shouldn't go see that movie, that it would be a 677 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:51,760 Speaker 1: waste of their time and money. Well, if folks value 678 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:54,799 Speaker 1: my judgment, I could well be said to have a 679 00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:58,080 Speaker 1: negative impact on the sales of the original work. However, 680 00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:02,080 Speaker 1: generally that would still be protected However, if I were 681 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,440 Speaker 1: to use the original in some way that would make 682 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:08,239 Speaker 1: people want to buy my derivative work or consume it 683 00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:12,399 Speaker 1: for free or whatever instead of the original, well that's 684 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:14,840 Speaker 1: harder to defend. So let's say, like in my critique 685 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:17,279 Speaker 1: of The Lighthouse, I included the entire film of the 686 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:21,480 Speaker 1: Lighthouse in my critique. That would be very hard to defend, 687 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:24,040 Speaker 1: not just because I'm using a substantial amount of the 688 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:28,480 Speaker 1: original work, but also the company did argue, Hey, why 689 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,799 Speaker 1: would people pay to see our movie if they can 690 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:35,160 Speaker 1: see it for free? Just wrapped up in the context 691 00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:38,920 Speaker 1: of this supposed criticism video, the copyright holder it can 692 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:42,120 Speaker 1: make a valid claim that my derivative work would not 693 00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:45,800 Speaker 1: exist without the copyrighted original piece, and yet it was 694 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:50,120 Speaker 1: essentially siphoning sales away from that original piece that is 695 00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:56,120 Speaker 1: not protected under fair use. Okay, we've got that all established. 696 00:42:56,120 --> 00:42:58,360 Speaker 1: We're gonna make a couple more points before we wrap 697 00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:02,920 Speaker 1: this up. Um, So, when it comes to stuff like music, 698 00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:06,640 Speaker 1: I mentioned that you can copyright the musical composition, and 699 00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:10,160 Speaker 1: you can copyright the lyrics separately. One other thing you 700 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:14,640 Speaker 1: can do, however, is copyright individual performances of a piece 701 00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:18,200 Speaker 1: of music. So, for example, let's say that you're making 702 00:43:18,200 --> 00:43:20,160 Speaker 1: a video and you want to make use of a 703 00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:23,960 Speaker 1: recording of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. Now, Oh to Joy 704 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,799 Speaker 1: is part of Beethoven's Symphony number nine. Beethoven composed that 705 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:31,160 Speaker 1: in the eighteen twenties, and it has long since passed 706 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,959 Speaker 1: into the public domain. You can use Ode to Joy 707 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:38,640 Speaker 1: in anything you like for free. There's no one to 708 00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:44,920 Speaker 1: pay royalties to as far as that's concerned, or licensing fees. Two. However, 709 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:49,040 Speaker 1: that just covers the music itself. A performance of Ode 710 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:52,480 Speaker 1: to Joy will have its own copyright which dates to 711 00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:56,840 Speaker 1: the recording of that piece. So even though the music 712 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: is in public domain, a performance lily is not unless 713 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,000 Speaker 1: you're using a performance of Oh to Joy. The dates 714 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:08,200 Speaker 1: from before the nineteen twenties. So you could perform to 715 00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:11,880 Speaker 1: Joy yourself in your project, you'd be good to go. 716 00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:15,400 Speaker 1: The music is in the public domain, the performance is yours. 717 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:19,840 Speaker 1: You're fine. But if you wanted to, say, use a 718 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:24,080 Speaker 1: recording of the London Philharmonic's performance that they did sometime 719 00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:27,040 Speaker 1: in the nineteen nineties of Oh de Joy, well then 720 00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:29,200 Speaker 1: you would have to deal with some licensing arrangements to 721 00:44:29,239 --> 00:44:31,960 Speaker 1: get the proper permissions to make use of that music, 722 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:36,080 Speaker 1: because while the musics in the public domain, the performance 723 00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:39,000 Speaker 1: is not. Then there are other things to consider as well. 724 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:42,080 Speaker 1: So remember when I said parody is kind of a 725 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:45,560 Speaker 1: special case with fair use. This one gets even more 726 00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:50,879 Speaker 1: complicated than other forms. So technically parody falls under fair 727 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:55,200 Speaker 1: use if it falls under the criticism and comment consideration 728 00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:59,120 Speaker 1: for fair use. A typical definition of parody is quote 729 00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:03,120 Speaker 1: and immit pation of the style of a particular writer, artist, 730 00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:08,120 Speaker 1: or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect end quote. 731 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:11,560 Speaker 1: But that doesn't automatically mean that it's fair use. For 732 00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:15,560 Speaker 1: it to be fair use, that specific parody really needs 733 00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:20,239 Speaker 1: to comment upon or criticize the original work that it 734 00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:24,680 Speaker 1: is parodying. For that reason, some but not all, of 735 00:45:24,719 --> 00:45:29,480 Speaker 1: weird Al Yankovic's parody songs would easily fall under fair use, 736 00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:32,279 Speaker 1: and others would be questionable. Now. I mentioned weird Al 737 00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:35,239 Speaker 1: because he's the most famous parody artist I can think of, 738 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:37,759 Speaker 1: that probably the one that most people have heard of, 739 00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:41,359 Speaker 1: and some of his parodies do tend to target the 740 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:45,480 Speaker 1: original work. So Smells Like Nirvana is a parody of 741 00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:48,600 Speaker 1: the Nirvana song Smells Like teen Spirit, and it's all 742 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:52,840 Speaker 1: about critiquing the original song. There are lyrics of what 743 00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:55,919 Speaker 1: is this song all about? Can't figure any lyrics out 744 00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:59,319 Speaker 1: that comments on the lyrics of the original work. Other 745 00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:03,240 Speaker 1: verses fun at Kurt Cobain's slurring and mumbling of words, 746 00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:06,280 Speaker 1: making it hard to understand what is actually being sung, 747 00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:10,680 Speaker 1: So that song parody would probably hold up under fair use. 748 00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:15,200 Speaker 1: But then take a song like Foil. Foil is a 749 00:46:15,239 --> 00:46:19,520 Speaker 1: parody of Lord's song Royals, so it's using the music 750 00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:23,160 Speaker 1: and lyrical structure of Royals. You know, they change the 751 00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,719 Speaker 1: actual lyrics, but it's the same rhyme, scheme and scanshion 752 00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:32,560 Speaker 1: of Royals. But the song Foil isn't a commentary on Royals. Instead, 753 00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:35,960 Speaker 1: it's a comedic song about aluminum foil. And I'm pretty 754 00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:39,080 Speaker 1: sure you couldn't make an argument that it's somehow commenting 755 00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:42,560 Speaker 1: on the original work, which means that would be harder 756 00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:45,040 Speaker 1: to defend as fair use. It's not a bad song, 757 00:46:45,080 --> 00:46:47,799 Speaker 1: by the way. This isn't a commentary on the quality 758 00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:51,439 Speaker 1: of the parody, but rather whether it would fall under 759 00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:54,640 Speaker 1: the consideration of fair use or not. Now, to be clear, 760 00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:57,400 Speaker 1: weird al makes it a practice to get permission to 761 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:01,880 Speaker 1: do his parodies before he does them. He licenses the songs. 762 00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:05,880 Speaker 1: In cases like smells like Nirvana, he might have been 763 00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:09,960 Speaker 1: able to skip that step, or more likely his music 764 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:13,200 Speaker 1: label would have if they were, you know, willing to 765 00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:16,240 Speaker 1: defend any lawsuits that came their way as a result. 766 00:47:16,719 --> 00:47:20,000 Speaker 1: But as both the courtesy and kind of the necessity, 767 00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:24,839 Speaker 1: he reaches out before recording parodies. Usually, um, there's at 768 00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:27,480 Speaker 1: least one version of this where things didn't work out, though, 769 00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:29,160 Speaker 1: actually there's a couple I can think of, but I'm 770 00:47:29,200 --> 00:47:32,560 Speaker 1: gonna mention one in particular. So back in two thousand six, 771 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:35,120 Speaker 1: where All Yankovic was working on an album and he 772 00:47:35,160 --> 00:47:38,080 Speaker 1: wanted to include a parody of the James Blunt song 773 00:47:38,400 --> 00:47:43,320 Speaker 1: You're Beautiful. Yankovic's version was a parody called You're Pitiful 774 00:47:43,400 --> 00:47:46,839 Speaker 1: about a middle aged dude who seriously down on his luck. 775 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:51,120 Speaker 1: Blunt was receptive and he gave the go ahead to Yankovic. 776 00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:57,560 Speaker 1: But as Yankovic's album neared publication, Blunt's record label, Atlantic Records, 777 00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:00,480 Speaker 1: reached out to Yankovic's label and demand did that the 778 00:48:00,520 --> 00:48:04,439 Speaker 1: song not appear on the album. And you know, music 779 00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:09,240 Speaker 1: labels typically hold the I p for the actual songs 780 00:48:09,400 --> 00:48:11,719 Speaker 1: of an artist in this case is a little more 781 00:48:11,719 --> 00:48:15,560 Speaker 1: complicated than that. So getting permission from Blunt, while a 782 00:48:15,560 --> 00:48:20,680 Speaker 1: good thing, wasn't totally legally binding. Blunt probably could have 783 00:48:20,719 --> 00:48:24,759 Speaker 1: pushed back on Atlantic Records about this, but that's not 784 00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:26,920 Speaker 1: exactly an easy thing to do when you're an artist. 785 00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:28,760 Speaker 1: I mean, you you want to work with your label. 786 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:33,360 Speaker 1: You don't want that to be a confrontational relationship. And 787 00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:38,360 Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, defending fair use is expensive because 788 00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:40,799 Speaker 1: it all goes to that consideration of a court, and 789 00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:44,640 Speaker 1: that means lawyers and lawyers have fees, and so defending 790 00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:48,000 Speaker 1: an instance as fair use in court can mean that 791 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:52,120 Speaker 1: you're paying thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in 792 00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:57,880 Speaker 1: fees just to defend yourself. There's a financial disincentive to 793 00:48:57,960 --> 00:49:01,880 Speaker 1: the average person because again, these laws were made with 794 00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:05,879 Speaker 1: corporations in mind, big entities that can afford these kind 795 00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:09,560 Speaker 1: of things. The average person can't. So corporations like music 796 00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:13,680 Speaker 1: labels or publishers have you know, entire teams of lawyers 797 00:49:13,719 --> 00:49:15,960 Speaker 1: who do this stuff all the time. They can put 798 00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:19,160 Speaker 1: pressure on folks with threats of lawsuits. And even if 799 00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:21,440 Speaker 1: those folks are in the right. You know, even if 800 00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:25,840 Speaker 1: their works clearly would fall under fair use, to defend 801 00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:29,439 Speaker 1: it in court could be way too expensive for these 802 00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:32,359 Speaker 1: individuals to afford it. There have been cases in which 803 00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:36,000 Speaker 1: people have settled out of court for thousands of dollars, 804 00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:38,720 Speaker 1: not because they felt they were legit and the wrong, 805 00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:41,480 Speaker 1: but because trying to prove that they were innocent of 806 00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:46,239 Speaker 1: infringement was more expensive than settling. It's pretty darn brutal. Now, 807 00:49:46,239 --> 00:49:49,439 Speaker 1: what about all those posts and YouTube videos that say 808 00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:53,520 Speaker 1: no copyright infringement intended? Those are pretty much worthless. It's 809 00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:56,480 Speaker 1: akin to posting on Facebook that you aren't giving Facebook 810 00:49:56,480 --> 00:49:59,520 Speaker 1: the rights to your data. That's also useless because just 811 00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:01,960 Speaker 1: by sign going on to Facebook and making an account, 812 00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:04,960 Speaker 1: you have to agree to Facebook's terms of service. That 813 00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:07,719 Speaker 1: kind of supersedes your little post that says you're not 814 00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:12,000 Speaker 1: in favor of Facebook using your data. Facebook's responses too bad, 815 00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,040 Speaker 1: because you agreed to it by being on the platform. 816 00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:17,439 Speaker 1: That's part of our terms of service. If you don't 817 00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:20,920 Speaker 1: want us to take your data, don't be on Facebook. 818 00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:23,080 Speaker 1: That's kind of the way that works. So if you 819 00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:26,200 Speaker 1: come across a video that says no copyright infringement intended, 820 00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:30,000 Speaker 1: or a picture on Instagram that clearly doesn't belong to 821 00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:33,120 Speaker 1: the account that posted it. Just note that that phrase 822 00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:37,560 Speaker 1: means nothing. Intent is not part of determining whether someone 823 00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:40,920 Speaker 1: is infringing copyright in the first place. It doesn't matter 824 00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:44,680 Speaker 1: what you intend. There's definitely a gradient when it comes 825 00:50:44,719 --> 00:50:47,560 Speaker 1: to copyright infringement. Like if I include half of a 826 00:50:47,640 --> 00:50:51,400 Speaker 1: music video online, that's copyright infringement. But if I include 827 00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:55,120 Speaker 1: the whole thing, that is worse. And if I monetize 828 00:50:55,160 --> 00:50:58,360 Speaker 1: the video where I do it, that's even worse. But 829 00:50:58,560 --> 00:51:01,920 Speaker 1: even that smallest for example I gave is still infringing. 830 00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:05,279 Speaker 1: Doesn't matter whether I think it is or not. You know, 831 00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:08,440 Speaker 1: if I can think something's not a crime, but if 832 00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:11,080 Speaker 1: legally it's a crime, it doesn't really matter what I think. 833 00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:13,360 Speaker 1: There are a lot of other things I need to 834 00:51:13,400 --> 00:51:15,040 Speaker 1: say about this, but one thing I want to sum 835 00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:17,880 Speaker 1: up with right here before I close out, and we 836 00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:20,520 Speaker 1: will pick back up in the next episode, is that 837 00:51:20,600 --> 00:51:23,840 Speaker 1: Tom Scott did a great job exploring the issues of 838 00:51:23,880 --> 00:51:26,839 Speaker 1: copyright and YouTube in particular, and I'll look more at 839 00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:29,560 Speaker 1: YouTube in the next episode. He did in a video 840 00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:34,880 Speaker 1: titled YouTube's Copyright System isn't broken, the world's is, and 841 00:51:34,920 --> 00:51:37,120 Speaker 1: shout out to listener Kat, who first turned me onto 842 00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:40,799 Speaker 1: Tom Scott's videos. Scott does what I do, only he 843 00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:43,279 Speaker 1: does it with a British accent, so he's better at 844 00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:46,160 Speaker 1: it than I am by default. Also, he's genuinely good 845 00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:48,799 Speaker 1: at explaining stuff like this, so make sure you check 846 00:51:48,880 --> 00:51:51,600 Speaker 1: that out. And we'll come back to talk more about 847 00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:55,000 Speaker 1: YouTube and copyright infringement and content i D and some 848 00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:58,680 Speaker 1: of the laws that have been passed after big media 849 00:51:58,719 --> 00:52:01,600 Speaker 1: companies have lobbied Chris in the United States that have 850 00:52:01,800 --> 00:52:05,680 Speaker 1: changed the way information gets shared on the Internet. We'll 851 00:52:05,680 --> 00:52:09,680 Speaker 1: also talk about some of the crazy movements that companies 852 00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:12,359 Speaker 1: have made against individuals and an effort to crack down 853 00:52:12,360 --> 00:52:15,759 Speaker 1: on things like piracy. Because all this is tied up 854 00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:18,719 Speaker 1: together and it's all a mess, And really what it 855 00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:21,440 Speaker 1: boils down to is that copyright law itself is in 856 00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:28,320 Speaker 1: dire need of a full rewrite. But that's dangerous because 857 00:52:28,360 --> 00:52:31,560 Speaker 1: the parties that are particularly interested in a rewrite of 858 00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:34,960 Speaker 1: copyright law are not looking to make it better, They're 859 00:52:35,040 --> 00:52:39,360 Speaker 1: looking to make it last longer. I hope you enjoyed 860 00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:44,200 Speaker 1: that episode from Copyright and Fair Use. Uh yeah, fair 861 00:52:44,320 --> 00:52:47,080 Speaker 1: use is one of those things that we can't easily 862 00:52:47,719 --> 00:52:52,080 Speaker 1: leverage ourselves, even in a podcast in a big company. 863 00:52:52,160 --> 00:52:56,600 Speaker 1: Like you might wonder, why don't I do an episode about, 864 00:52:56,880 --> 00:52:59,919 Speaker 1: you know, a certain musical instrument like the mog synthesizer 865 00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:03,359 Speaker 1: and then include a whole bunch of mog music. Well, 866 00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:06,839 Speaker 1: it's because even though you could argue, yeah, it's fair use, 867 00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:10,360 Speaker 1: you're commenting on something and you're using it as an example, 868 00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:14,400 Speaker 1: and it's the vast majority of the material is original. 869 00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:18,200 Speaker 1: It's not taken from a copyrighted work. That's still something 870 00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:21,200 Speaker 1: that comes up in court cases, right, Like, that's something 871 00:53:21,239 --> 00:53:24,239 Speaker 1: you argue once you've already been sued, and ain't nobody 872 00:53:24,320 --> 00:53:28,600 Speaker 1: wants to get sued. So yeah, it is a complex thing, 873 00:53:28,680 --> 00:53:32,200 Speaker 1: and it's one that that unless you're paying licenses to 874 00:53:32,440 --> 00:53:35,560 Speaker 1: use material for so that you can make absolutely certain 875 00:53:36,120 --> 00:53:40,239 Speaker 1: that you're not treading on any toes, you've got to 876 00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:43,000 Speaker 1: be super careful. So I hope you enjoyed that episode 877 00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:46,160 Speaker 1: about copyright and fair use. I hope that was interesting 878 00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:50,560 Speaker 1: and informative to you. We'll be back with new episodes tomorrow, 879 00:53:50,920 --> 00:53:54,600 Speaker 1: so I will chat with you. Then. Oh wait, that's 880 00:53:54,600 --> 00:53:56,320 Speaker 1: not how I end this. I'll talk to you again 881 00:53:57,040 --> 00:54:06,360 Speaker 1: really soon. M Text Stuff is an I heart Radio production. 882 00:54:06,560 --> 00:54:09,400 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i 883 00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:12,759 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 884 00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:13,720 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.