Copyright Laws : Yes or No?

Copyright laws are a source of contention in the age of digital media, from Napster being shut down to the European Union's recent decision to pass Article 13.  Controversy around copyright is rife, and it brings to question how governments and platforms should deal with copyright in the modern era.

It is important to recognize that the solution is not to get rid of copyright completely. Laws that protect copyright are very important, and copyright is a concept rooted in the Constitution. When an individual comes up with an idea or creates a piece of work, this idea or work is an asset. They retain ownership over what they have created and copyright laws are the avenue to doing so. These laws ensure that individuals own their works, and allow them to monetize their creative assets through licensing. However, copyright does not last forever, and eventually these works become a part of public domain.

Assets in public domain are free to use without licensing. Other individuals can repurpose the work and use it in various other avenues that allow them to monetize what they have created. Public domain is important as not only does it allow for free flow of information, but also because of its economic benefits. When the public repurposes a piece of content that is in public domain, it is often used for commercial uses. The economic benefits of public domain appear through this, as there becomes an entire industry centered on public domain usage.

The real problem does not lie in copyright and public domain, but rather in how we choose to deal with it. One of the main issues is that there is no consistency in copyright laws. For example, we can look at Disney and how they've retained ownership over Mickey Mouse's Steamboat Willie for so long. The truth is that each time Mickey Mouse comes up for public domain, the government chooses to extend and change copyright laws to prevent this from happening. This ever-changing nature of copyright laws prevents a wide range of content, not just Mickey Mouse, from entering public domain. Sometimes, these changes even bring content in public domain back into copyright. This lack of a bright line makes copyright a contentious issue and the results are the problem we see today.

The issue lies in how we implement copyright laws and not in copyright itself. There is no clear cut answer to how to deal with copyright. However, what needs to be done is to find a solution that balances copyright and public domain that remains consistent over time.


Sources :
https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/articles/three-reasons-for-copyright-protection
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-copyright-and-why-is-it-important-to-authors-2800060
https://theconversation.com/a-healthy-public-domain-generates-millions-in-economic-value-not-bad-for-free-39290
https://alj.artrepreneur.com/mickey-mouse-keeps-changing-copyright-law/



Comments

  1. AustinApril 21, 2019 at 10:47 PM

    Great post. I think this can really relate to Youtube's ongoing copyright arguments, where users have the ability to copystrike someone else's content and make them face punishments. Like you pointed out, the line where something is copyrighted is loosely drawn, and in the Youtuber industry, this blurred line is often time abused by some users, who are able to gain benefits from these copystrikes through contacting firms who engage in profiting from Youtubers who had posted copyrighted content. The idea of copy right is really important and I believe more laws should be established, since the Internet is changing so fast.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 22, 2019 at 10:12 AM

    Copyright is so tough because we want to give people the right to their own work, but also we want to give others the freedom to build off of other people's work. We want to give people the ability to decide what of their work gets used, but then we often see that they just claim everything and unfairly punish those that use their work. We need to really take some time to think about this and to create some hard and solid policy.

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