Fixation & Material Objects in Copyright Law: Categories of Copies & Phonorecords, Slides of Law

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WRAP-UP

• Fixation

MATERIAL OBJECTS IN WHICH WORKS CAN BE

FIXED

• What are the 2 categories of material objects in which works can be fixed?

COPIES

• 17 U.S.C. § 101: “Copies” are material objects, other than phonorecords, in which a work is fixed, by any method now known or later developed, and from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. The term “copies” includes the material object, other than a phonorecord, in which the work is first fixed.

PHONORECORDS

• 17 U.S.C. § 101: “Phonorecords” are material objects in which sounds, other than those accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work, are fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the sounds can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. The term “phonorecords” includes the material object in which the sounds are first fixed.

SPORTING AND OTHER EVENTS

• Can a baseball game be copyrighted?

SPORTING AND OTHER EVENTS

• How about the

Macys

Thanksgiving

Day parade?

Definition of Fixation

• 17 U.S.C. § 101: A work consisting of sounds, images, or both that are being transmitted, is “fixed” for purposes of this title if a fixation of the work is being made simultaneously with its transmission.
• Separate definition of “transmission”
• Is this constitutional?

FIXATION OF BROADCASTS

• See 17 U.S.C. § 101 “transmit”: To “ transmit” a performance or display is to communicate it by any device or process whereby images or sounds are received beyond the place from which they are sent.”

IS THE BROADCAST PART OF THE

FIXATION DEFINITION

CONSTITUTIONAL?

• 17 U.S.C. § 101: A work consisting of sounds, images, or both that are being transmitted, is “fixed” for purposes of this title if a fixation of the work is being made simultaneously with its transmission.

The Nightclub Performer

• Eve performs dramatic improvisations.
• If Adam videotapes Eve’s live performance of improvised drama,can Eve argue that her live performance is copyrightable?
• Does it make a difference if Eve simultaneously records her performance? If she simultaneously records and broadcasts it?

FIXATION IN DIGITAL MEDIA

• Is a work temporarily stored in a computer’s RAM memory “fixed”?

COPYRIGHTABILITY OF FACTS

• Feist addressed this problem: How should we reconcile the following “well-established propositions
• 1. Idea/Expression Dichotomy and
• 2. Statutory copyright protection for compilations in Copyright Act

103(b)

• The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the matter contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material.

DEFINITION OF COMPILATION AT

S. 101

• A compilation is a work formed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship. The term “compilation:” includes collective works.