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