Copyright and Copyleft - Research Paper Example

COPYRIGHT AND COPYLEFT Introduction Through the development and inception of print technology, people thought that an individual’s intellectual creation should be treated as their property; therefore, the copyright law was created to allow the creator to protect their work from unauthorized replication and or production of the piece of work. However, in the modern times, people increasingly reason that everyone should have equal access to someone else’s work and that the copyright law is too restrictive, especially in a digital society. This study therefore intends to evaluate the effects and feasibility of the introduction of a copyleft law. Copyleft law would allow people to access and use people’s works as well as allowing people to improve upon these works more freely. Before any changes, copyright laws should be changed incrementally as it is unlikely that copy left laws will be able to completely replace copyright laws because there are many people and industries that rely on their intellectual creations for life-long success (Frantsvog, 2012). The copyright law started with development of print media and technology because print technology allowed people to copy much more easily and efficiently and therefore this made piracy levels increase to greater levels. This therefore led to creation of copyright laws, which were created to limit and control such instances of piracy (Patterson, 2000). However, because media technologies are constantly and rapidly improving, copyright laws quickly become insufficient for their intended purpose. For example, copyright law was relatively sufficient with CDs or tape recordings, but when MP3 technologies were developed there was trouble with peer-to-peer sharing (P2P). However, it is still an opinion of many that copyright law is too strong and that it inhibits production and expansion of creative industries. For example, remix, as a new genre in music has not been fully covered through the music copyright laws (Ghosh, 2012). Not only is the copyright law somewhat restrictive, but there are also concerns with flow of money in the economy. A lot of the money that the copyright laws attempt to protect for a work’s author is not actually paid to the author but in the process of logistics, much of the money is spent. For instance, subsidiary processes such as registration with a copyright agency requires that the author must pay for them hence the cost implication to the rightful owner of the piece of work. Hypothesis/Thesis: From preliminary analysis and reading’s findings, this study hypothesize that it is unlikely for copyleft law to replace copyright laws in the near-term. Research questions: Do you believe can society effectively adopt copyleft laws? Why do you think so, and what kinds of benefits or concerns may arise? Literature review Emerging trends in the modern society have seen the formulation and adoption legal frameworks that allow replication and distribution of copies of original works by a third party as being covered by copyright laws. In other sense, copyleft laws enable third parties to reproduce and distribute modified works with a mandatory requirement that the pieces of work remain libre. The copyleft laws ensure that the pieces of work are free from the source and that the modification in replication and distribution remain free. In fact, the use of the concept is in describing a unique type of license that is called GPL (general public license) which has been much relevant in the open source development in software. Proponents for the law cite that the freedom to access and modify a product by other persons would be effective in ensuring continued development and upgrading of a product and especially in the domain of software and modern computer programs. It is however, worth acknowledging that a copyleft law does not change existing copyrights laws of a piece of production. In fact, as Pike (2002) notes, the ideologies of copyright and copyleft does not have mutual exclusivity and as such would prove to be very effective when applied together for commercial and non-commercial publications and innovations. In understanding rights of individuals in the US, the current law is very comprehensive in protecting the welfare of the individual authors against any tampering by unauthorized persons. Intellectual property in general consist various components such as patents, copyrights as well as service marks and trademarks. However, it is worth noting that the various components of intellectual property vary from one another in legal structures and frameworks. Through the legal framework in place here, the holder to the copyright has the overall power to decide on who accesses, shares and modifies the author’s work. However, emerging trends and activism in the modern day have the thought that creations with intellectual origin need be made public and open to everyone who would modify, redistribute and or seek legal intervention to have others access the piece of creation. This therefore explains the notion of ‘copyleft’, which has been a play to copyright and which ensures that other persons than holders of copyright can access, replicate and even modify a production under a legal coverage. However, there are critiques from leading activists who argue that the force of copyleft has brought about a detrimental effect towards creativity where instead of facilitating creativity, the laws are suppressing it (Frantsvog, 2012). The main difference pointed between the ‘copyright’ laws and ‘copyleft’ laws is that copyright accords only the holder the absolute rights that modify, distribute and replicate the materials while the license with copyleft laws allows other persons to modify, replicate and distribute the product while the copyright is still held by the owner. Some slogans are predominantly affiliated with the copyleft licenses and they include ‘all rights reserved’, ‘no rights reserved’ and or ‘some rights reserved’ as specified by the copyright holder. This therefore shows that although the works under copyleft license are legally protected, they are equally free to be used, modified as well as distributed across the market. Gosh (2011), evaluated the copyright dangers as well as emergence in copyleft principles. He noted that copyright was the initial idea towards safeguarding the interest of the ‘creator’ or author over the product about the interest of the public or third parties. Supporters to the ideologies of property rights views laws as part with the actual property or piece of production and this in part explains the essence of laws in the social domain. The inception of concepts of a ‘market economy’ explains the basis of property and intersexual rights where artists sought of manners of reaping profits from own creations. This therefore bore the idea behind copyright though increased abuse and unnecessary restrictions explains the emergence of the new principle in copyleft. However, in the evolutionary journey, property rights have been shown to propagate certain problems, which include the software and cultural related issues. The social problems are viewed from the perspective of influencing furtherance in creativity and restricting some productions for the public good. Software problems are on the other hand interpreted from the perspective of restricting further development of software, which would be more effective as against designing new software from the scratch. In fact, according to (Ayilyath, 2011) the philosophy of open source which explains principles of copyleft encourage higher creativity which is very instrumental in shaping the computer age as we live in today. It is under such legal provision that individuals are accorded the capacity to copy, run, distribute, improve study and change any copyrighted product (here referred to as software). The main advantage seen to drive the copyleft ideology is the promotion of freedom although this does not imply free of cost access but rather the ease of accessibility. Methodology Research methods are categorically part of the methodologies that are utilized by a researcher within the framework of carrying out a research study. This section describes the procedure(s) that have is being used for testing the hypothesis, collecting data and management of data upon which this study is based. This study adopts the qualitative study method where deductions are made from the data collected from literatures that have been reviewed. It therefore adopts a qualitative structure where the main basis of data in use is from the past studies that have been done in the theme. Although literature shows that, the concept of copyleft is relatively new, much can be deduced through the literature in testing the hypothesis and answering the research questions guiding this study. The analysis is therefore through deductions and getting supportive evidence from the literature as have been reviewed. Findings The literature reviewed depicts that the concept of copyleft is a play with copyright and does not date much in the past. The most areas influenced by the ideology are together with software development, literature, written arts as well as acted arts and in music. Copyright laws have been in existence over long time and have been recognized in many global constitutions. In fact, the idea has enabled many governments to have protection over many artists and creative producer who would otherwise fail to benefit from own productions (Crawford, 2002). The copyright is just one of the intellectual properties that are observed in the world alongside patenting, trademarks as well as research marks. The main ideology in copyright is according an individual the absolute right to dictate how a product would be replicated, distributed or even modified in the market by third persons. However, literature has shown that despite the positives that are associated with benefits derived by individual artists or producers, copyrighting restricts furtherance of an idea as it is only restricted to the efforts the ‘owner’. Revolutionary features in legal fields as influenced by globalization and changing times have however seen the development of the principle of copyleft. This principle is ideally a play with copyrighting which enables the public or third parties to modify, distribute and replicate the product although the property right still holds with the ‘owner’. Great revolution has been seen in the arts industry where new products are being created every time and computerization has greatly influenced the ability of people to access and modify, share as well as recreate such products. This therefore forms the ground on which the proponents of the ideology rides on while lobbying for the free-access to products, which previously have been under strict observance of copyrights (Copyright laws now out of date, 2002). Analysis and Discussion Great change can be ascertained from the findings above concerning evolution of copyrights and the copylefts. The concept of copyleft have gradually taken over the globe and legal frameworks to govern the principle are slowly taking over (Bolipata, 2011). For instance, the revolution in music industry has seen development of mp3 music, which has made copyrighting relatively unsuccessful in the mandate to curtail unauthorized reproduction, sharing as well as modification as was possible through tapes and such traditional media. On the other hand, computer software development is equally gaining momentum and logistics in modification and trade have enabled copylefting to have its place. This would therefore point towards supporting the study hypothesis that copyleft law may replace copyright laws in near future. Technological advancement would be pointed out as the main explanation to such developments. The society can therefore effectively adopt the change into copyleft laws as changing times are necessitating. Advancement in produced works of art and software in computer industry would be possible through such laws hence the benefits. Besides, the copyright would still be held by the ‘owner’ hence the advantage of reaping from own efforts as was the initial ideology of intellectual property. Conclusion This study has gone into depths in the analysis of intellectual property with special focus on copyrights and copyleft (as an emerging trend). The analysis shows a potential of copyleft laws overtaking the copyright laws especially with technological advancement as is shaping the world. The main advantages that are being associated with copyleft laws is that advancement of ideas would be possible as against the limitations that came about with copyrights. Besides, the government finds it easier to make policy frameworks that would be efficient in management of market logistics as necessitated by changing times. Future research studies would be pointed towards an empirical analysis of the trend in shaping the future of intellectual property as pertains copyrights and copyleft. References Ayilyath, M. (2011). Copyright or copyleft: Righteousness of open sourcing of software licences in the eyes of law. Rochester: Social Science Research Network. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1961984 Bolipata, K. (2011). Court analysis - copyleft takes a step forward. Managing Intellectual Property, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/903700721?accountid=45049 Crawford, W. (2002). Copyright out of whack, I: Perpetual protection. EContent, 25(9), 45-46. Copyright laws now out of date. (2002). Printing World, , 4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/233022091?accountid=45049 Frantsvog, D. A. (2012). All rights reversed: A study of copyleft, open-source, and open-content licensing. Contemporary Issues in Education Research (Online), 5(1), 15. Ghosh, R. (2012). Dangers of copyright and the emergence of copyleft. Rochester: Social Science Research Network. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2045444 Patterson, C. (2000). Copyright misuse and modified copyleft: New solutions to the challenges of internet standardization. Michigan Law Review, 98(5), 1351-1383. Pike, G. H. (2002). What is right about a copyleft? Information Today, 19(4), 22-24. Read More