| Assignment 2 |
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Copyright
Law, Intellectual Property,
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Assignment: You are a technology
director for your organization. What are the factors you must consider
in relation to copyright to protect the individual and the organization?
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#3 - Obtaining Copyrights and Infringement Penalties
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Individual
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Organization
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Obtaining Copyrights: * Copyright registration is NOT required for copyright protection, but it does offer advantages to those who go through the registration process. Advantages include recovery of statutory damages (up to $100,000) and attorney's fees if the registration takes place within three months of the creation of the work and prior to infringement of the work. Registration also provides documented evidence of copyright validity if infringement takes place and a court case follows. * Registration can take place at any time during the life of the copyright. * Registration steps: (1) application form (2) nonrefundable filing fee - check here for current fee (3) the work being copyrighted (which will not be returned) Requirements for the work submitted can be found here. * Copyright applications may be submitted by the author, a person or organization who has current ownership rights, people who own rights to the work that have been separated from rights to the entire work, and authorized agents of any of the above and they do not have to prepared by or filed by a lawyer. * Copyright forms can be found on the Internet here. |
Obtaining Copyrights: * While the process for obtaining copyrights for an organization seems to be basically the same as for an individual, the following points should be understood: a. the copyright for a work belongs to the author of the work (or his designee); however, if an employee creates a work as part of his employment, the author is considered to be the author IF "if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire." (http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wccc) b. co-authors of a work are also co-owners of the copyright c. publishers of collected works may obtain copyright on the entire publication; however, individual works contained within it remain copyrighted to individual authors. * Different institutions handle copyright issues with their employees in different ways, but employees should be asked to sign a document concerning ownership rights upon employement if authorship / ownership is a consideration for the position. |
| Infringement
Penalties: * Up to five years imprisonment and fines of up to $250,000 or both for first time violators of copyright laws; those previously convicted of infringement may receive up to ten years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both. (Criminal Resource Manual 01852) |
Infringement
Penalties: * While no distinction was found between penalties for organizations and individuals, the government must prove "(1) that a valid copyright; (2) was infringed by the defendant; (3) willfully; and (4) for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain." (Criminal Resource Manual 1847) |
