Results under "Public Domain"

One of the great “truisms” of anticopyright groups is that copyright is somehow this incredible drag on the publication and availability of works. And the remedy for this is to push works into the public domain as quickly as possible. But yet, like so many other “truisims,” once you dig into the reality of the situation, the assertion is simply not true at all. The proof lies in a recently released study that finds that books under copyright protection outsell books of the same vintage which are in the public domain by a ratio of almost 4 to 1. Nova Southeastern University's Copyright Officer, Stephen Carlisle, J.D., makes a detailed analysis of this remarkable study which proves that copyright is beneficial to both the public and authors.

A musician and copyright attorney recently claimed to have used a computer program to compose every possible melody and then injected them into the public domain. Along with a computer programmer, he instructed the computer to come up with every possible variation of eight notes within a single octave, a total of 69 billion melodies. Why do this? Supposedly to make it harder to bring copyright infringement lawsuits as now all melodies would have passed into the public domain. Nova Southeastern University's Copyright Officer, Stephen Carlisle, J.D., dives into the methodology of the program and the realities of popular music to answer the question: Does this really work?

Characters like Zorro and Sherlock Holmes are enduringly popular. So enduringly popular, that they outlive their copyrights and enter the public domain. Trouble is that the owners of the rights to these characters try everything they can think of to prevent rival stories being released to the public. On May 11, 2018, a Federal Court ruled that Zorro was firmly in the public domain and a rival musical “Z - The Musical of Zorro” did not infringe on any rights held by Zorro Productions, Inc. Problem is that Zorro Productions Inc. holds a registered trademark on the mark “Zorro” for “theater productions.” Will this work? Nova Southeastern University's Copyright Officer, Stephen Carlisle J.D., explains this gambit and what it might mean for future public domain characters.

A lot of people use the “Creative Commons” license, in which they waive some or all of their rights under the Copyright Act. This is of course, fine, as any author should be able to control the distribution of their work in any manner that they see fit, and those wishes should be respected. But as with regular copyright, what happens when the restrictions of a Creative Commons license are not respected? What happens then? Nova Southeastern University's Copyright Officer, Stephen Carlisle, J.D., examines a recent case and explains why the answer is “applying the principles of copyright law.”

The website Digital Music News uncovered two stunning facts last week that reshape the landscape of the rather heated court battle between the Trust of Spirit guitarist Randy California and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. They have uncovered not one, but two previous musical compositions that sound an awful lot like the opening guitar melody to “Stairway to Heaven,” which is claimed to infringe the Spirit song “Taurus.” The part where it gets interesting is that one musical composition is so old it is in the public domain. Nova Southeastern University's Copyright Officer, Stephen Carlisle, J.D., takes a listen a takes and a look at the music and the law to find out what effect it might have on the upcoming trial.

Many copyright critics rail against the long copyright terms which currently exist. Some suggest that copyright terms be busted back down to as little as 14 years and propose bringing back formal registration requirements. In view of the long terms of copyrights granted by most of the world, would this be wise? Further, would it be allowed by the Constitution? Nova Southeastern University's Copyright Officer, Stephen Carlisle, J.D., takes a deep dive into the “takings” clause of the 5th Amendment to the Constitution and finds that legislation to reduce current copyright terms won’t make it out of the starting gate.