Assignment on Copyright and Intellectual Property

Running head: COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Copyright and Intellectual Property
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Topic: The digital age has rendered copyright obsolete. To what extent do you agree with this
and why?
Introduction
Copyright has had a long history of disputes and lawsuits in its record. The idea of
copyright was introduced to provide protection to the legitimate creators from unlawful
threats (Lemley 2019). While copyright is mainly discussed in the context of music and
inventions or scientific doctrines, they are equally applicable to any new ideas or literary
works. Digital age has challenged the propertarian nature of copyright and has normalized
fair use policy which decriminalized the non-commercial use of protected material (Edwards
et al. 2016). In this essay, the aim and importance of copyrights, their changing nature
through time and mainly during the digital age have been analyzed. Additionally, its
applicability in the present time where digital libraries, cloud computing and fan fictions are
becoming popular by day have also been evaluated.
Discussion
Aim of copyright
The application of copyright had initially been the protection of the creators, inventors
and authors. The copyright laws were too harsh and went too far to protect their rights. In
time, they became the machinery for the authors and inventors to generate money on the basis
of violation and infringement (Hobbs 2018). Many times copyrights have been used for
stopping people from creating or inventing new ideas, threatening them with a possible
copyright violation. Copyright, since then has remained at the disposal of the enterprises or
media houses as they are ones that use the protections ensured by copyrights to exact money
from innocent and unknown users.

2COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Copyright initially had been too proprietary. It considered the matters that copyright
protected as intellectual property and thus gave the creators an absolute right and ownership
on their creation that extended even after their death (Hobbs 2019). Copyright is also acts as
the machinery for free speech and expression of thoughts. It gives the creators an incentive
create new things or bring new ideas. The idea of fair use clashes violently with the
proprietarian approach that earlier copyright regulations had. The Proprietarian approach
prohibits any use of the works that is protected by the law (Danaher, Smith and Telang 2017).
Any kind of adaptation, borrowing or resemblance would cause the accuser to pay money to
the license holder. The fair use policy on the other hand believes that copyright protected
materials can be used for non-commercial purposes.
Misuse of copyright
Copyright laws have been created to support the free creative expression of people. If
thought closely, the idea of media literacy becomes impossible and non-existent without the
protections that copyright laws provide. The problem with copyright laws is that they vary
from country to country and the interpretation of fair use change with changing time. Earlier,
piracy of any kind was seen as it was, theft (Aufderheide and Jaszi 2018). Now, many
researchers have argued that piracy is a necessary evil and it inspires greater creativity. As
many of the world’s greatest media channels like Hollywood or Radio transmissions were
created by piracy, it is believed that it has ultimately led to greater good.
Though the idea of copyright protection and licenses are mostly used and exacted by
media industry, misuse can also happen with literary and other inventions. There have been
extensive arguments about the theft if intellectual property and how that can be stopped. Due
to the lack of standardized copyright laws and differences in interpretation by the justice
system, the authors are often left unprotected and might slowly loose the interest to invent or

3COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
create new ideas due to prior losses (Klein, Meier and Powers 2017). The imposition of
copyright is still largely on the creators and the penalty too is exacted from them. In music
industry, when an author’s music is used for further covers, they are forced to give up a
portion of their royalty, thus leading to a further loss for them.
Infringement and Fair use
Copyright infringement is an extremely complex context. Even the laws and its
interpretation vary from country to country. Another problem regarding copyright laws are
that there are even fewer people that understand the fine line that separates one form the other
(Lohmann 2017). Copyright infringements are generally interpreted on the basis of four
aspects. The way the material is used and the aim of the use, the nature of the work, the
quantity taken from the original work and the commercial gain it has made decides whether if
the use can be termed as infringement or as fair use.
The fair use policy that protects the private and non-commercial use of copyright has
made copyright a machinery for freedom of expressions. The fair use law enables the
criticism and parodying of the existing creations. While this falls truly under fair use policy,
there are many scenarios where violations are made. The fair use regulations have made
copyright more flexible and has reduced the proprietary nature of the laws that threatened the
free expression and opinion (Butland and Sullivan 2018). It has been argued by many
researchers that the flexibility that the fair use law provides, comes with a price. The
determination of fair use falls largely on the courts and thus the outcomes may vary. The
cases regarding copyright violation and fair use that has brought media attention have
brought varied results and thus provide the arguers of fair use an opportunity.
Academic use of existing work has been argued in many manner. Plagiarism has been
considered as one of the most shameful aspects of intellectual property theft. Plagiarism can