Introduction to Film & Music Media Copyright (Blog 10. Part 2)
What is a copyright? Copyright is the protection of written, theatrical, musical and artistic works. It can also be applied to film, book layouts, sound recordings and broadcasts. Software and databases can be copyrighted because they are classed as literary works. If someone creates a unique piece of work (article or script) and record it in fixed form (in writing) one automatically has a copyright and do not have to apply for it. It is a federal law that gives creators of media the exclusive rights to copy, distribute, and mash up the things they create for a limited time. Out of all forms of copyright protected media, music is the most controlled and licensed. There is a number of points of how and when people are allowed to play and distribute music, in public, on their own, in education etc. Sometimes there are cases of copyright infringement, for example: US rapper Jay Z was accused of stealing flute samples from 1957s song Khosara to use in his song “Big Pumpin”. The songwriters heir sued the rapper and his producer Timberland blaming them that the song was used without proper licenses. But Jay Z won a copyright infringement trial, the court said he was not responsible for an “uncleared sample” that helped create the song. They later revealed that they paid £66,000 to EMI Music Arabia for the license in 2001. Now mentioning the film copyright, there are also many instances of copyright infringement, for example The Matrix, the movie was sued twice. The first accusation was from Sophie Stewart who sued the Wachowskis for stealing her screen treatment called The Third Eye, and that she was defrauded of over $200 million dollars. Stewart said she replied to an ad the Wachowskis posted in 1986 looking for sci-fi stories, but the case was closed due to the lack of evidence. Warner Brothers was charged because author Thomas Althouse stated that The Matrix was a copy of his own script called The Immortals, which he submitted to the studio in 1993. To conclude, it is very important that copyright exists because the original work, effort, skills should not be taken for granted, if one created a piece of media he/she should be the one who receives all the feedback from it. If the copyright did not exist people’s ideas would be limited and less diverse.
Bibliography:
https://ucomm.wsu.edu/music-copyright/
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/ed-sheeran-sued-copyright-infringement-8147915
http://www.ranker.com/list/films-accused-of-copyright-infringement/matthewcoleweiss