INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Two Lessons: An Overview Of Intellectual Property; Focus On Social Media
Course Description
1. Your Intellectual Property: What Is It And How To Protect It
Objectives
- Understand the copyrights you have and the value of them.
- Understand how copyright law is constantly evolving and being decided through suits.
- Awareness of protections under the law.
- Create a plan for registering the copyright of your works.
- Advocate for your rights when others use your work.
• Differentiate between copyright, trademark, patent, and rights of publicity.
• Describe why you would register a trademark.
• Describe what cannot be trademarked and how a brand may become generic. Explain how to register a trademark, along with approximate cost and timing.
• Explain how businesses may make their brand or mark trademark-ready.
• Recognize artists and designers can register a mark for their names.
• Explain USPTO and its use.
• Define copyright and give its three main characteristics.
• Define originality and something that is “fixed.”
• Recognize copyrights become a right automatically, without registration.
• Explain who can claim copyright and for how long, including joint authors and collective work.
• List several types of work protected by copyright.
• Define “reproductive rights,” “derivate works,” “distribution,” “first sale doctrine,” “public performance,” and “public display.” List some examples.
• Define Visual Artist Rights Act (VARA), moral rights, and the four “buckets” involved: disclosure, attribution, withdrawal, and integrity. Explain what works are covered by VARA, and how.
• Define “fair use” and its 4 factors. Give an example of fair use and identify the most important factor in it.
• Explain a work-for-hire, its copyright protection, and how you might keep copyright or not.
• Describe how your paid work may fall under the work-for-hire doctrine.
• Understand the benefits of filing for official copyright protection and displaying a copyright notice © with your work.
• Explain how a work may be “public domain” or an “orphan work.”
• Explain how to register a copyright officially, along with approximate cost and timing.
• Understand how you can register multiple works at a time.
• Determine whether a work is transformative or falls under the concept of fair use based on what you’ve learned.
• Explain the concept of licensing and its relationship to copyright.
• Differentiate between exclusive licenses and non-exclusive licenses.
• Explain Fees, Scope, Rights, Term, and Termination Rights in relation to licensing.
• Explain, in simple terms, indemnification, limitation of liability, representation, and warranty sections in a licensing agreement.
• List a few other points of negotiation in a licensing agreement.
• Utilize Creative Commons to research alternative copyright agreements and marks.
• Complete the associated worksheet on licensing before granting a license or seeking a license for someone else’s work.
2. Going Digital: Intellectual Property On Social Media
Objectives
- Check terms of use (specifically grant of rights) of all online platforms in relation to licensing and sublicensing before uploading your work.
- Ask for attribution or issue a DMCA takedown notice if you see your work being used online without your permission.
- Understand the value of your copyrights and advocate for attribution, a license fee, or some other fair compensation (depending on the situation) when someone else uses your work.
- Respect the value of other people’s copyrights when reposting or utilizing the work of others.
• Define Copyright, Trademark, and Right to Publicity.
• Understand the limitations of copyright and trademark law and how they adapt to new technologies.
• Define non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, and global.
• Explain 4 rights Instagram has with a license to your work (when you accept the terms of use).
• Describe a case where an artist sued Instagram for sub-licensing work.
• Explain the difference between personal use and commercial use and the probable result of each in terms of copyright infringement.
• Define the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
• Explain “safe harbor” for online service providers and a “DMCA takedown notice.”
• Give an example of how you can receive permission to utilize a copyrighted image or how someone else might use your image with your permission.
• List the two main components of a contractual obligation.
