All Entries Tagged With: "Media"
The era of intellectual property law
By Matthew B. Harrison
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. –– In a recent article, Michael Harrison predicted that Intellectual Property Law would dominate talk radio’s legal concerns in the era that is unfolding. (It is filed at www.talkers.com under Michael Harrison and is titled “The Ticking of the Clock.”)
As talk programming evolves into new means of digital distribution through advances in technology, so does our need to understand intellectual property. While evolutionary, the nature of the rights themselves –– to control and exploit the products of one’s creativity and innovation –– remains consistent, the manner by which they are expressed and exchanged is constantly attempting to adapt to advances in technology.
The invention of, in turn, the printing press, the phonograph, radio and television broadcasting, cable, transmission from satellite, VCRs, CDs, DVDs, and now the internet has affected both the form and the substance in the interpretation of intellectual property rights.
Buy My Book on Amazon – Memories of Unsoiled Decay
A camera sees differently than our eyes do and can be used as a means to communicate a story. For most artists – the story goes beyond themselves and capturing moments from their lives and the literal content contained within the frame. The photographs no longer reveal literal truth but instead present a metaphor for a greater truth. The viewer is engaged in identifying the metaphor and appreciating the relationship that the photographer has demonstrated with the subject. This portfolio is both. However, there is a third component of this portfolio that makes it worthy of being the work product of a Masters Degree Scholar: these photographs were specifically created in such a way as to maximize a viewers engagement with these images. I applied scientific research to my photographic process – in order to maximize the portfolio’s ability to engage the viewer.
Old law applied to new media could spell trouble for terrestrial radio
NEW YORK — As media technology advances, our legal system tends to lag behind. Old rules governing new situations as interpreted by judges who aren’t exactly on the leading edge of these advances, is often a recipe for disaster. To apply existing rules to the internet requires a liberal (as in “not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas”) interpretation. This same interpretation as it could then be applied to terrestrial radio could prove problematic.
In New York, defamation suits revolve around what the average person reading or hearing a communication would take an alleged “false statement of fact” to mean.
The average person, at the time this law was drafted, was probably a very active terrestrial media consumer. However, now with the courts being inundated with internet based communications matters, the average person who is consuming internet media is becoming the standard in which all rules apply.
Afterthoughts on using and protecting intellectual property
By Matthew B. Harrison, esq.
PhotosAndTheLaw.com
Last month, this column detailed the four factors of the fair use defense to copyright infringement. The prior column addressed how to use the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in order to protect your audio (and video) from misuse. Both of these articles generated enough reader feedback and follow up questions, that it seemed like a good idea to provide a summary article with some additional clarifications.
The first two, and the most straightforward, of four factors of a fair use defense to copyright infringement are:
· The nature of the copyrighted work; and
· The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
and the two that led to the most follow up are:
· The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; and
· The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.