Scholarship Essay CopyRight by Kathleen French Directron 2008-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com

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Directron Scholarship 2008 Essay No. 20

by Kathleen French
Current School: Senior at High Tech High Media Arts
Intended School: Willamette University
Intended Major: Japanese and MBA

Today's pirates do not have eyepatches or peg legs; no parrots rest on their shoulders. Today's pirates wander the high seas of the world wide web, their booty is music, books, and software, not physical goods. Internet piracy, the illegal downloading of copyrighted material over the world wide web, is one of the most popular crimes in the nation. The growth of internet piracy is largely due to perception of copyrights and copyright law as something bothersome to be looked down upon rather than as a useful creation of society. Copyright law has been skewed away from its original intent of protecting creativity because of changes in media, morals and corporate influence.

Media formats have changed greatly since the invention of copyright, the legal right of a creator to control the copying of their intellectual property, their work.. For centuries the transmission of intellectual property relied on physical media: a book, roll of film, or even a floppy disk. If someone wanted to buy an album of music they would need to go to a store and purchase a physical item. As a corollary, if someone wanted to steal an album they would also need to go to the store and steal the physical item. The internet changed everything. With the advent of digital content distribution a consumer can purchase the same music album from a store such as iTunes without purchasing a physical copy of the music. Additionally, the same person could use a file sharing service such as Kazaa or Limewire to steal the album digitally without affecting any existing copies of the music. One of the largest arguments by anti-piracy lobbyists such as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is that "the unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music is just as illegal as shoplifting a CD" (MUSIC). It is equally illegal as the law is not a sliding scale, an act it either illegal or legal. While both illegal, the acts are not the same. Digital content can be reproduced infinitely whereas a stolen CD is a CD that is unavailable for purchase by another. The acts are fundamentally different and should be treated differently by the law. Another problem with copyrights in the present age is the uncertainty surrounding exceptions to copyright law. The oldest of these, fair use, is a concept pioneered in The Copyright Act of 1976. This American copyright legislation dictates that a limited amount of a copyrighted work can be used for criticism, news reporting, or educational purposes including reproduction for classroom use or use in scholarly works, such as a citation in a research paper (Copyright Law Revision 2). Fair use is very subjective and largely depends on the individual work used and to what end it is copied. These fair use laws lead to the creation of many other laws that allow other exceptions to copyrights, the most notable being "backup copies" of software. Title 17 Chapter 1 § 117 of the U.S. Code states you are allowed to create archival copies of programs to protect against loss from damage to the program media or your hard disk (17 USC Sec. 117). Despite these exceptions copyright law is not completely in sync with our present digital world. "According to research from the National Consumer Council, more than half of British consumers are infringing copyright law by copying CDs onto their computers, iPods or other MP3 players" (BBC). Obviously, the copying of a CD to a computer and then to a iPod or equivalent device is not equal to copying a CD for a friend who did not buy the CD. One could even argue that the convenience of the iPod encouraged more legal music purchases because a person with a portable music player has more impetus to purchase music because they can take it with them. In this new era, a purchase of a physical CD is now the purchase of the right to listen to the contained audio through various copies made from the purchased media.

Along with media formats, perspectives on copyright have also changed. With the removal of physical material from the production and transmission of intellectual properties the idea of copyrighted material being "property" is challenged. Intellectual property is not a finite physical resource like oil, wood or even water; it is a product of the mind that can be reproduced infinitely. In the modern age, intellectual property such as music or images is increasingly becoming a lucrative intangible commercial product as well as a cultural asset. To study a culture one studies their creative works. Music, writings, software, and films are all creative works that form the collective culture of a society. They define and differentiate that culture from another. Increasingly many activists such as the "The League of Noble Peers" (famous for it's connection to the world's largest BitTorrent tracker : The Pirate Bay) have publicly advocated for the freedom of copyrighted material on the basis of it being a cultural asset and essential to society. They argue, "this [copyright system] is no way to run a culture" (Steal This Film II). Many people have begun to use piracy to sample new works and explore beyond their financial bounds. Piracy offers "sampling effects, allowing consumers to try before they buy, and that the net gains to society � by allowing 'public domain' type access to music" (Daves 49). Very commonly, pirates argue that corporations and rock stars are 'greedy' and 'selfish' and that their work should be taken away from them and given to the public for the greater good of society. However, the creators of media still rely on the money from the sale of these works. It takes many non-musicians to create a single song including engineers and songwriters. These behind the scenes employees are not rich and famous, they are the people "who can least afford to be punished" (Galdston). Without a structure to protect intellectual property, many people involved in the creative fields would be forced to leave their trade and the overall production of cultural works would be diminished.

While many individuals can receive royalties from intellectual properties, corporations are the primary benefactors of the current copyright laws, especially newer laws. Internet piracy can be treated as both a criminal and civil offense. Even civil penalties can be extremely costly as the minimum penalty for music piracy is $750 per song. If a pirate is found guilty of a criminal offense, penalties for first-time offenders can run as high as five years in prison and $250,000 in fines (MUSIC). Much of this money is intended to compensate for economic damage done to the victims. Oddly, these victims are often large affluent media corporations not individual creative professionals. ""A lot of publishers began routinely requiring writers to sign contracts that declared that what they wrote was a 'work for hire,' so that the authors wouldn't own any part of their own work"(Card) explains Orson Scott Card, a celebrated science fiction author. "It was basically highway robbery-the companies demanded that either the writers sign their names to a lie and give up all their rights, or the company wouldn't publish it" (Card). Because copyright law allows corporations to hold intellectual property rights, many creative professionals and artists do not receive royalties or the payments from piracy suits. They either receive a steady salary or a simple one-time payment for their work. These work for hire artists retain few if any rights to their creation. This idea of corporate ownership is absurd (Card). A corporation is not a person but rather a concept formed by people who may or may not still work for that corporation. Creative works are culture and culture is for the benefit of people. Only a person should be able to control culture and hold rights. Laws are for the sake of people and should focus on benefiting people not the conceptual entities they create.

Though not piracy, the internet has also caused a boom in a different sort of copyright infringement, the unauthorized creation of derivative works. A derivative work is a new creative work made from other (copyrighted) works. Derivative works include song remixes, translations, edited images, and even art based on characters from copyrighted works. Depending on the level of the infringement it may be harshly prosecuted or openly encouraged by the copyright holder. One case that was harshly prosecuted was that of Stephanie Lenz. Lenz shot a 29 second long video of her one year-old son dancing to a song by Prince that he could hear in the background. Wanting to share this video with family, she uploaded it to YouTube.com. Within four months, Prince's record label, Universal, removed the video for "copyright infringement" noting that she was liable to (but not charged) a fine of up to $150,000 for the illegal distribution of their intellectual property. Lenz was shocked. After a long search for help, Lenz was able to contact the Electronic Frontier Foundation and file a counter-suit that argued her creation was legal under "fair use" laws (Lessig). Fair use status relies on four major factors: the intent of the new work, the nature of the source work, the amount used, and the effect of the new work on the source. Upon watching the clip the intent of it becomes clear : Lenz intended to share her baby's antics not to pirate music. The music cannot be heard clearly nor is even discernible in the beginning of the rather short clip; it is much too short and of too poor quality to have any effect on Universal's sales. After the counter-suit Lenz was able to get her video back on to YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KfJHFWlhQ. Corporations have taken the idea of copyright to a extreme that cripples every level of society. The average person does not often create completely new works but their creativity is often sparked by the work of another. Derivatives are a natural expression of creativity as well as a person's appreciation of the source work. Some creators and companies have begun to recognize this as a natural and positive result. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as the E3, Koichiro Sakamoto, a producer at the video game giant Squaresoft, was questioned about fan-translations, which is when a group of fans of a particular creative work create an unauthorized translation of the work. These translations when for console games, often involve including the entirety of the game illegally within the distributed translation. Surprisingly, Sakamoto "replied that he actually found them very encouraging -- it's something the developers should be doing, but because they're not, the fans are doing it instead"(Boulette 1). He also expressed gratitude for these translators spending their time to translate a game (Boulette 1). Despite this work being both an illegal derivative and requiring a illegal copy of the game data, the producer acknowledged the work as positive and a desirable creation. Such positions are a step towards greater harmony between media companies and their consumers as well as a step towards copyright reform.

Laws may seem to be eternal but they need to change along with the society they govern. Modern technology, attitudes, and business are completely different than those of the past. Internet piracy is only one effect of society's shifting perceptions. Recent additions made to address these changes have not taken the entire situation into account and unfairly lean toward corporations, leaving the public at risk for exploitation. Copyright law has been skewed away from its intent and is now harming those it was intended to protect.

Works Cited: 17 USC Sec. 117.

BBC. "Copying own CDs 'should be legal'" BBC News. 29 Sept. 2006. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2008 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6095612.stm>.

Boulette, Brian. "E3 Front Mission Interview." RPGamer. 12 July 2007. 3 Nov. 2008 <http://www.rpgamer.com/news/q3-2007/071207a.html>.

Card, Scott Orson. "The Harms of Online Music Sharing Are Exaggerated." At Issue: Internet Piracy. Ed. James D. Torr. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Critical Thinking. Gale. San Diego Public Library. 22 Oct. 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com.sdplproxy.sandiego.gov/>.

"Copyright Law Revision (House Report No. 94-1476)." Wikisource, The Free Library. 24 Aug 2008, 03:55 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 12 Nov 2008 <http://en.wikisource.org>.

Daves, William, and Kay Withers. Public Innovation. Institute for Public Policy Research. BBC. 29 Oct. 2006. British Broadcasting Corporation. 30 Oct. 2008 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/30_10_06_public.pdf>.

Galdston, Phil. "Internet Piracy Harms Artists." At Issue: Internet Piracy. Ed. James D. Torr. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. San Diego Public Library. 23 Oct. 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com.sdplproxy.sandiego.gov/>.

Lessig, Lawrence. "In Defense of Piracy." The Wall Street Journal. 11 Oct. 2008. 3 Nov. 2008 <http://online.wsj.com/article/sb122367645363324303.html>.

Music United for Strong Internet Copyright. "Online Music Sharing Is Wrong." At Issue: Internet Piracy. Ed. James D. Torr. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Critical Thinking. Gale. San Diego Public Library. 22 Oct. 2008 <http://find.galegroup.com.sdplproxy.sandiego.gov/>.

Steal This Film II. Dir. The League of Noble Peers. Steal This FIlm II. 20 Nov. 2008. 20 Nov. 2008 <http://www.stealthisfilm.com/part2/>.

References: | Directron.com College Scholarship |

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