Unit 5: Law of Copyright
5.1 Concept, Scope and Elements of Copyright
Copyright = the author’s exclusive right over original works of authorship — the expression protected, never the idea (the idea-expression dichotomy: the eternal exam line). The scope: the literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works; the sound recordings, films, broadcasts and computer programs; the databases-and-compilations’ faces. The elements’ two: (1) originality — the author’s own intellectual creation (the sweat-of-the-brow vs the creativity standards — the comparative debate); (2) fixation — the expression’s tangible form (the work expressed in some material form).
5.2 Justifications on Protection of Copyright
- The incentive-to-create (the utilitarian bargain: the exclusive right financing the creation’s labour).
- The author’s personality right (the Hegelian lineage of U1.2.2 — the work as the person’s extension: hence the moral rights).
- The public’s bargain (the limited term’s exchange: the creation-and-diffusion, and the public domain’s eventual enrichment).
- The cultural economy’s case (the creative industries — music, film, publishing, software — the livelihoods-and-the national culture’s faces).
5.3 Subsistence of Copyright
5.3.1 Copyright Ownership and Term of Copyright
Subsistence’s automaticity: copyright is born with the work’s creation — no registration required (the Berne principle; the Nepali Act’s registry is facilitative, not constitutive — the deposit’s evidentiary value). Ownership: the author’s default (the creator); the employer’s-and-commission’s allocations (the work-for-hire’s-and-the employment faces); the joint-and-derivative works’ shares; the assignment’s-and-licence’s chains. Term: the standard life of the author plus fifty years (the Berne floor — the Nepali Act’s term) and the fifty years from publication or making for the corporate-and-neighbouring works (the films, recordings, broadcasts — the current Act’s faces); the posthumous-and-anonymous works’ special rules.
This is a preview. The complete Intellectual Property Law notes — full unit, Exam Focus box and model questions — are in the PDF / full version. Get the complete notes →