Intellectual Property Laws Intellectual Property is  Purely intangible, with no physical characteristics – a person cannot touch it. Intellectual Property includes the following  Copyright Law  Patent Law  Trademark Law

Intellectual Property Laws The most important feature of property law is  The owner of the property may use it exclusively as he/she wishes  Nobody else can use it without his/her authorization

Copyright Laws A copyright is:  A property right attached to an original work of art of literature Copyright Law grants the author exclusive rights to: Reproduce, distribute, adapt, perform, or display the protected work

Copyright Laws How long does copyright protection last? Works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.

Copyright Laws Copyright covers 7 broad categories:  Literary works  Musical works  Dramatic works  Choreographed works  Pictures/graphics  Sound recordings  Motion pictures

Copyright Laws Your may only copy a copyrighted item if:  Public Domain – works belonging to the public, government, or expired copyrights  Permission – prior approval by copyright owner  Fair Use – Educational purposes You may sell your copyrights to another person.  In 1985 Michael Jackson along with Sony (part owner) purchased the rights to 200 Beatles songs for $47.5 million  Paul McCartney must now pay Michael Jackson’s estate /Sony when he wants to sing one of the songs they own the rights to

Copyright Laws  A suit was brought against Michael Bolton by the Isley Brothers for allegedly lifting parts from their original song of the same name and in 1991  The district court found in favor of the Isley Brothers and left the largest award in history for plagiarism in the music industry intact.  The Isley Brothers were awarded $5.4 million dollars, the calculation based on sixty-six percent of past and future royalties.

Copyright Laws Vanilla Ice was sued for copyright infringement in 1990 when it came to light that he had sampled Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” without consent or license. Ice Ice Baby hit number one on the charts in the United States and Vanilla Ice became the one ‘under pressure’. Vanilla Ice altered the rhythm of the baseline thinking he would thereby avoid any question of credit, royalties, license or even permission. This case never went to court. He settled out of court with Queen and David Bowie for an undisclosed but very likely very high amount.

Copyright Laws n.aspx n.aspx Is George Harrison guilty of copyright infringement?

Copyright Laws Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” hit with copyright suit  Refer to 2:27 minutes You be the judge?  Does Plaintiff have a case against Alicia keys?