Running head: THE ETHICS OF COPYRIGHT
Ethics of Copyright
Brennan Omeara
Virginia Commonwealth University
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THE ETHICS OF COPYRIGHT
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Reflection
The process of writing this paper was fairly extensive. I came up with the idea after
watching a YouTube video on the topic and how much more creative ideas would could come if
these were more ideas to draw from that were culturally relevant, using “The Lego Movie” as a
bases for his point. These ideas would come into the public domain for everyone to use absurdly
sooner if the length of a copyright term was only 10 years. So after so research into the topic I
felt that there was enough information to talk about this topic in a paper. After coming up with
points that I wanted to hit in this paper after doing more research I wrote an outline and began
writing. After I finished my first draft I had my father and step mother read, edit, and give
suggestions on what to change. After taking in all their ideas I edited my paper and did some
final changes to get the paper I have now.
I feel that the biggest strength of my paper is the amount of evidence that I have pointing
out how copyright terms lasts to long. Showing that copyright had strayed from its original
purpose and how it was actually hindering creation despite the fact that it was created to
encourage it. But the biggest weakness of this paper is defiantly my inability to support the idea
that copyright should expire after 10 years. I wanted to have my claim suggesting copyright
should last from a range of 10 to 20 years, I was not sure this was a specific enough claim for
the assignment. The reason went with 10 years is because it’s my personal opinion, but I could
not find much evidence to support that copyright should be 10 years specifically.
If I had more time to work on my paper I would have done more research in to the sales
numbers of specific books and songs over time. I would use this to show that having such long
copyright terms was not necessary for creators to make a profit from one song or book. I tried
finding this information but after hours of searching I couldn’t find this information.
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Copyright was an idea that first originated in the 18th century. Since then the rules of
copyright have changed significantly. Now, Copyright laws give protection to the works of
creators for too long and it is hindering the progress of creation. Having these ideas in the public
domain is as necessary for creation as an artist needing inspiration for their next great work of
art. The fact that copyright has the ability to last up to 150 years or longer under the current laws
of copyright is absurd. That much time is not needed for creators to profit off of their ideas let
alone have the possibility of them or even their children living long enough to see any of the
money that would be made near the end of the copyright term. This is why copyright laws should
only protect their works for up to 10 years.
According to the United States of America’s Constitution was made “To promote the
Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the
exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries ;” (U.S. Constition). What this
means is creators, whether that be writers, inventors, musicians, and so on, are the only ones
allowed to use or produce their ideas unless they give permission to another person or company
for a certain amount of time until it is available to be used by everyone. When it is available to
be used by everyone it is called being in the public domain. The purpose of this is to put in place
incentives in order to encourage creation. This works by allowing people to make money off of
their ideas and creations without having to deal with competition from people selling their idea
as well. But after time has passed and the copyright has expired, the idea goes into the public
domain where others can build on or modify the creation. Because the idea is available to
everyone creators may not be able to make as much money from their idea due to competition. In
order to continue making money creators produce more works of art and copyright them, which
starts the cycle over again. However, with the length of time copyright currently takes to expire
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and because copyright terms continue to be extended, this process is stretched out significantly
and it is slowing the growth of creation in this nation.
Over the years, the duration that copyright terms last have grown significantly in the
United States. The first act to be passed by Congress about copyright in America was the
Copyright Act of 1790. This act allowed copyright to last on their ideas for 14 years and could be
renewed for another 14 years if the holder of the copyright wanted. In 1831, the first revision to
the copyright act was made. It allowed copyright to last for 28 years with the ability to renew it
for another 14 years. In 1909 yet another revision was made, this revision made copyright last for
28 years and gave the owners the ability to renew for another 28 years, therefore allowing
copyright to last up to 56 years. The biggest change to the length of copyright came in 1976. This
revision established the duration as the life of the creator plus 50 years. This huge jump came
about to have the same copyright laws that were used throughout most of Europe to reduce the
conflict created by having such different laws in place. The latest change to the length of
copyright came in 1998 from the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension. This extended the
length of copyright to the life of the creator plus a whopping 70 years (Copyright Timeline: A
History of Copyright in the United States, n.d.). Many believe this last extension was heavily
imposed on the government by The Walt Disney Company. Many of the copyright terms on their
properties like Mickey Mouse were about to expire and they did not want these properties going
into the public domain.
Once the changes in copyright terms over the years have been explored, it is apparent that
it is significantly different then how it started. It is easier to see that copyright has strayed from
its original purpose. From its beginnings, lasting only 28 years, to now, the life of the creator
plus 70 years, the reasoning of why copyright exists is now warped and distorted. It no longer
ETHICS OF COPYRIGHT
exists to promote creation, creation is hindered. It is used as a tool by big corporations like The
Walt Disney Company to prevent their intellectual property from going into the public domain.
They are preventing people’s ability to add or even change already created ideas because big
corporations do not want anyone to make money off of their products. This mind set of not
wanting people to use their ideas has a serious impact on the arts.
While it is necessary for people to make money from their creations in order to promote
the creative arts, having these ideas off limits to others for such an extended period of time is
shackling the potential of what people could be making. Allowing people to build off of others
ideas is necessary for people to create. In order to create art inspiration is needed and so much
potential inspiration to others is off limits and protected under these laws.
There are a surprising amount of everyday things, whether it be songs or sayings that are
protected by copyright. Any public use or distribution of these ideas could land someone in a
huge lawsuit. For example, the melody for “Happy Birthday to You” is protected under
copyright. This song has been copyrighted since 1899 and is currently held by Warner Music
Group until the copyright term ends in 2030. The Warner Music Group have attempted to sue
restaurants that preform the song for people on their birthday (Brauneis, 2012). The notion that
these ideas are the property of companies and not a part of American culture to be used by
everyone is insane. Copyright is being used as another way to make money is preventing
culturally significant ideas from getting into the public domain.
Great and new works of art have come out of ideas in the public domain. A Christmas
Carrol, written by Charles Dickens, was published in 1843 and is now in the public domain.
Because of this there have been many remakings and interpretations of this story. The Muppets
version of A Christmas Carol make the story more understandable for young children allowing
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them to enjoy this classic story at their own level. Along with this there are countless other
movie and TV show interpretations. Reimaginations of other types of art such as music have also
benefitted from classical songs being in the public domain. Remixes and reimaginings of
classical symphonies populate the internet and serve as a base and an inspiration for many other
people to make creations from. These small examples are a few of the great things that have
come from works of art that are in the public domain. The more works of art that are in the
public domain the more inspiration and ideas people can draw from for creation.
10 years is a good amount of time for a copyright term to last because it gives plenty of
time to creators to make money off of their idea while letting things that are culturally relevant
and not outdated into the public domain. While 10 years is an arbitrary number from a range of
time that it would allow copyright to still be true to its original purpose an optimum length of
time has been calculated. Using statistics and estimates from economics and variables
representing its relevance to society, the welfare of society, the creators’ ability to make money
off of the idea, among other things, Rufus Pollock at the University of Cambridge made an
estimate for the optimum length for a copyright term. From his calculations he predicts that the
optimum length of a copyright term should be around 15.5 years (Pollock, 2008). The
calculations made in his paper are extensive and they are based on general trends, but even when
he puts his estimates at the most conservative approximations with a longer copyright term being
favored his calculations come out 52 years (Pollock, 2008). While this is a very long term it
points out how ridiculous in length our copyright laws are and that they should be significantly
shorter.
Some would argue that this length of time is not enough time for artist to make profit
from their work. But how often are song more than 10 years old bought? Of course there are
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song that are classics that people want to buy but at the time they were released they made tons
of money and artist made more than enough to support themselves. Another argument may be
that once a writer’s story from a book or movie is in the public domain that anyone can write or
make content in that created universe where these events happen and this could mix people up
about what has happened officially from the writers’ works and what the fans have made. This is
a problem that the very famous franchise Star Wars had. There is tons of content such as books
and movies that are not created by the official story tellers of that universe and these creators
handled the situation beautifully. They have made what has officially happened in the Star Wars
franchise labeled as canon while all the other content is labeled as legends. This allows fans to
write stories in this universe while still having an official storyline made by the creators.
Copyrights original intent was to promote creation while still allowing the creator to
profit from their ideas. However, big corporations are now using all their power to prevent their
ideas from going into the public domain by pressing the government to extent copyright terms
and this is negatively effecting the process of creation. For copyright law to be in the best interest
of society, the lengths these terms last should be cut down to 10 years. Allowing creative works
to go into the public domain to be used by all promotes creation and will lead to many new and
creative ideas.
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References
Brauneis, R. (2012). Copyright and the World's Most Popular Song. 56 Journal of the Copyright
Society of the U.S.A.
Copyright Timeline: A History of Copyright in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved from
Association of Research Libraries: http://www.arl.org/focus-areas/copyright-ip/2486copyright-timeline#.VTvxFyFViko
Ferguson, K. (n.d.). Everything is a Remix. Retrieved from Everything is a Remix:
http://everythingisaremix.info/
Pollock, R. (2008, January). Forever Minus a Day? Theory and Empirics of Optimal Copyright
Term.
Rugnetta, M. PBS Idea Channel. (2015, April 15). Is the Lego Movie Anti-Copyright. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs4dCNO4A84
U.S. Constition. (n.d.). Art.1, Sec. 8, Clause 8.