Assignment 3 - Copyrights

One of the most common misconceptions about copyright law is that it protects ideas, inventions and discoveries. This is in-fact incorrect. According to the information provided by the government at www.copyright.gov patent or trademark law covers inventions and discoveries. And while how ideas might be expressed it does not cover the ideas themselves. So what does copyright cover? "Literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works", so things like music, plays, "movies, computer software, and architecture" (copyright.gov).

With the start of the Internet more information became more readily available and accessible to its users. Because of that, there was a need to find a way to protect people's work that was out there. "The Copyright Website" (www.benedict.com) explains it best:

"The Internet has been characterized as the largest threat to copyright since its inception. The Internet is awash in information, a lot of it with varying degrees of copyright protection. Copyrighted works on the Net include news stories, software, novels, screenplays, graphics, pictures, Usenet messages and even email. In fact, the frightening reality is that copyright law protects almost everything on the Net. That can pose problems for the hapless surfer."

It makes it very easy for Joe Shoes photo of little Suzie to be copyrighted and protected from anyone else using it.

This also makes it very easy to get music. I know I have no problem hoping on Lime wire and getting some music that I might be into, but what is the effect for the artist? I think it has both positive and negative effects on them. I spoke to a friend of mine who used to be in a fairly popular band and asked him how it affected his bands advancement and income. He said a few things, one that it was great because more people were able to check out the new music, and made it easier for new fans to check them out. The other thing he said was that it was tough because record sales used to be a big income and now you basically had to cut that out of the budgeted income. So as a beginning artist who doesn't have a fat wallet it does hurt.

After talking to him I drew a few of my own conclusions. It's obvious at this point that music downloading is here to stay, people will continue finding ways to block it and then find ways to break through it. At this point its time to realize it, and now move past, find new ways to bring in the money.