Copyright

No registration in order to obtain the exclusive right (unlike patent and trade mark)

Copyright protects “expression of idea” in works – literary, music, drawing, photo, architecture, films, computer program, broadcasting, etc.,

Exclusive rights – reproduction/adaptation/distribution + first sale doctrine (selling second hand of copyrighted work does not violate the copyright of such work)/transfer the right

Non-copyright work – news, law, idea, theory, court judgement

Licensing agreement/permission to use + fee

Duration of legal protection – vary according to the work – as for literary work, for example, it lasts the life of the author (may not be the copyright owner) and 50 years after the death

Moral right – the right of the author – not a commercial right – it is the right for the protection of reputation of the author

Actors’ rights – the right to get paid when the work in which he/she performs was played

Exceptions to the exclusive right of the copyright owner:

The use of copyrighted work MUST not affect a normal commercializing of the copyrighted work by the owner

Internet Service Provider (ISP) Liabilities – protect the copyright owner from the violation through Internet communication, or otherwise called “Notice and Takedown”

ISP such as Youtube/Google/True/DTAC – has no legal liability when there are copyright-violated works – by taking the violated work down from the web according to the court order

Temporary copy of the copyrighted work on the RAM to enable the computer user to continue working – not violation

Downloaded works from the Internet – if paid – fine BUT cannot share

Blog – will blogger have legal liability when he or she put the video clips in the Blog?

If the owner of the video clip made it to public – it was deemed ‘a permission’ to use, so putting the video clips in the Blog is fine – including the sharing link of those clips – it takes the user directly to the original source

Source: taken from an article by Ass. Prof. Dr. Pinai Nanakorn 2009

International Agreements and Digital Technology

WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT)It regulates an access to copyrighted works on the networks. It does notaddress innocuous acts of ephemeral copying such as RAM copies in theprocess of surfing the internet.

It provides protection of technological measures against “circumvention”.Circumvention includes both ‘access control’ and ‘copy control’.

WCT also provides for protection of rights management information. Inother words, it provides legal remedies against the act of removing or altering any electronic rights management information without authority,knowing or having reasonable grounds to know that it will induce aninfringement of the author’s rights

Source: taken from an article by Ass. Prof. Dr. Pinai Nanakorn 2009

Digital Activities

Circumvention of technological measures & rights management InformationUsing technological measures for preventing unauthorized personsfrom having access to copyrighted works. Technological measures are invarious forms – protection software, codes, encryption technology, etc.,

Rightholders provide details about the copyrighted work in order to facilitate traceability of copyright. Such details or information known as ‘right management information’.