Copyright Talk

Remember back when you were in school and got your supplies for the year? There was always a brand new package of notebook paper and a spiral notebook with pages and pages of blank white paper (or purple or green paper, if you were in junior high). When I was young, the empty paper inspired me – what great pictures and stories I could write! As I got a little older the blank paper brought a small anxiety, wondering what type of papers I would have to write for my teachers. And once I was grown, a blank page on my computer screen and an assignment from my employer could positively intimidate me.

I am pleased to report to you that the wide open spaces of my new blog excite me. Copyright law is both simple and annoyingly complex, all at the same time. Yet it is everpresent in this information age, and this blog is intended to present information and issues that will help all those who deal in any way with copyrighted materials to understand the concepts surrounding this law. Those who will find this blog useful include both those who create copyrighted works, such as authors, musicians, programmers, artists and filmmakers, as well as those who use copyrighted works, such as those same authors, musicians, programmers, artists and filmmakers at times, but also web designers, teachers, marketers, business owners, neighborhood newsletter editors, and the like.

By the way, the title of this post, Wide Open Spaces, is also the title of a song written by Susan Gibson and recorded by the Dixie Chicks. I can use it because titles, slogans and other short phrases generally cannot be copyrighted, according to material put out by the US Copyright Office itself. But that’s not the end of the story. Although courts will give the interpretation of the law by the Office great weight, the courts themselves decide on the interpretation of the law. In the case of short phrases, there have been a number of lawsuits brought for infringement of small, even tiny, strings of words. Sometimes courts have held that very short phrases are covered by copyright.

So there you see the simple move into the complex. Which is why a blog like this can probably cover all the wide open spaces of empty white screen ahead of me. Welcome to the journey.