Copyright law (United States)

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©

The Copyright Law [ ˈkɒpiɹaɪt ] ( English copyright law 'copy right', from copy 'copy' and right 'right') denotes a legal area in the law of the United States for the protection of intellectual property . It is similar to German copyright law , but differs in essential points. Even the approach is different: while German copyright law focuses on the author as the creator and his or her ideal relationship to the work , copyright emphasizes the economic aspect.

In the copyright of the American legal system , in contrast to continental European copyright, the decision-making and exploitation rights over a work are often not granted to the author (for example the artist ), but to the economic rights exploiters, for example the publisher . The author then retains limited veto rights, which are intended to prevent the abuse of copyright by the rights exploiters.

Legal history

In contrast to copyright in Germany, the copyright had to be explicitly registered in the USA until 1989 ( US Copyright Act 1909, Chapter 1 Sec. 11) and expired 75 years after it was entered in the central copyright register. In the US, new works are now protected for up to 70 years after the author's death or 95 years for companies ( Copyright Term Extension Act ). A registration of the copyright with the Library of Congress is not necessary for the acquisition of the right according to the current legal situation, but can be advantageous for the assertion of damages, for example.

On October 28, 1998, the US Senate passed the highly controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act , which aims to strengthen the rights of copyright owners. This is a reaction to the fact that the internet and other digital technologies have made it easier to reproduce and distribute works.

Spellings

The copyright notice is primarily dependent on the copyright holder and only secondarily on the place and time (space) / year / date. The following spellings are possible in German-speaking / European countries:

  • Copyright © / ℗ Rights holder, place, period / year / date - all rights reserved
  • (Copyright) © / ℗ Rights holder, (place) period / year / date

The following spellings are common in the Anglo-American region:

  • Copyright © / ℗ Place Period / Year / Date by rights holder - all rights reserved
  • (Copyright) © / ℗ (place) period / year / date (by) rights holder

The addition of copyright in front of the © can be omitted, but is recommended, as it makes it easier to recognize copyrights and can thus be of help to the inexperienced or in the event of coding / display problems.

The same (see below) applies to the audio carrier note with ℗.

Copyright notice

The copyright notice ( copyright symbol : © (German: “all rights reserved”) - temporarily also (C) or incorrectly (c) followed by a year and the rights holder) or the copyright notice originally comes from Anglo-American law. It is intended to inform the user of a work protected by copyright about the existence of copyrights. The background is the old legal position of US-American copyright, according to which rights to a work could expire if it was not provided with a copyright notice (as in the case of the film The Night of the Living Dead from 1968). After the USA joined the international Bern Convention for the Protection of Works of Literature and Art ( RBÜ ) in 1989, the copyright notice is no longer necessary today, but can be set at one's own discretion.

In German law, copyrights arise automatically when a work is created. A copyright notice is not required. The main purpose of the notice is to convey the statement that someone is claiming copyrights for themselves or others. However, the note itself does not lead to the existence of copyrights. Whether a work is protected by copyright is determined solely by law. For this, for example, a sufficient height of creation is necessary. The copyright notice can acquire further significance because a given date may allow conclusions to be drawn about the expiry of the protection period. However, only in a few cases is the term of protection based on the date of publication. Finally, notes can be useful in preserving evidence. Marking third-party works with your own copyright notice can constitute a copyright infringement.

℗-note for sound carriers

℗

In the case of sound carriers and films, there is often also a häufig note - in some places also (P) or incorrectly (p)  .

The addition of copyright in front of the © can also be omitted here, but is recommended because it makes it easier to recognize copyrights and can thus be of help to the inexperienced.

The P stands for phonogram (in German: “Phonogram” or “Fonogram” or “sound recording”). In some countries (not in Germany), the ℗-note is required in order to be able to assert sound carrier rights. These are so-called ancillary copyrights . The aim is not to protect artistic but rather economically expensive services by the sound carrier. Only the first recording on a phonogram is subject to protection (e.g. the master tape ). Corresponding regulations can be found in German law in § § 85  f. UrhG .

A distinction must be made between the rights of the sound carrier manufacturer and copyrights to the compositions, song texts or the graphic design of the cover. The ancillary copyright of the film manufacturer also applies to audio-visual media, in German law according to § 94  UrhG.

literature

  • Copyright . In: Corpus Juris Secundum . A contemporary statement of American law as derived from reported cases and legislation . tape 2 . West, St. Paul, Minn. (The series has been published since 1936).

Web links

Wiktionary: ©  - Explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Register copyrights online with:

  • Registered Commons calculates hash value, provides time stamps from A-Cert in accordance with the Signature Act, offers Creative Commons license templates and perma-link to work, RegisteredCommons.org (English)