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Copyright infringement case Learning Copyright Law through Copyright Infringement Cases Copyright infringement cases can be both costly and time consuming. Considering copyright infringement is something that isn’t as easily defined as theft or speeding, there are numerous copyright infringement cases that are changing the way copyright law is viewed in the United States of America. By reviewing a few of these copyright infringement cases, you’ll be able to get a better idea of what is, and is not, acceptable use of copyrighted works. As a forward, however, you’ll need to know a little bit about copyright law. Most copyright lawsuits are brought to the courts because a copyright owner has found their copyright is being used outside the copyright laws. This usually means that the copyright holder hadn’t been asked for permission to use the work, or if they had, that the work is not being used in an agreed-upon context or they have not been paid royalties. The copyright infringement cases, listed below, give a sampling of what goes to the Supreme Court in copyright infringement. Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service Co (6th Cir. 1996) This copyright infringement case was brought upon the Supreme Court in 1996 regarding the copyright of a database. The supreme court, in this instance, decided that compilations of data (such as in a database) are only protected by copyright when they are “arranged and selected in an original manner.” Although the level of originality needed to make the database copyright-able is not very high, the pages of a directory such as a phone book are not protect-able because the data contained therein is arranged geographically, then alphabetically. Because of this, the data was not original enough to warrant a copyright infringement charge, and the competing telephone company was allowed to tap into their competitors’ database and use that data in their own work without liability. Princeton University Press v. Michigan Document Services, Inc (6th Cir 1996) This case has to do with the ‘fair use’ law, which is defined in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107. In this case, a photocopying service was sued for copyright infringement for making ‘course packs’ for the University of Michigan. In this case, a course pack was a group of reading materials assigned by a professor – then the course pack was bound together by a professional copy shop. In the fair use system, there is a system available for payment of copyright fees to publishers whose works are used in course materials, the printing shop owner refused to pay the copyright cost. When it went to the Supreme Court, they analyzed the fair use code and found that it was NOT fair use, and the printing shop had to pay the copyright costs. As you can see, copyright infringement cases are cases in which someone violates the rights of a copyright owner, as provided by 17 USC §106, or of the author as provided in §106A. These copyright infringement cases can be taken to either criminal or civil court, and can carry with it a hefty fine. Copyright infringement cases are brought upon people who violate copyrights every day. In recent times, you’ll find many copyright cases in relation to electronic copyrights – such as those you’d find on a website or PDF file, as well as other digital media such as music and audio files. It’s probable that you’ve seen copyright cases brought against the common person – such as a child or family – for downloading digital music in the form of MP3s. In the current internet age we’re in, it’s not surprising to see so many music and video copyright cases brought to us because of peer to peer file sharing made possible by the internet. You can be certain that until people know the rules of copyright, and downloading copyrighted material from the internet that we’ll see many more copyright cases.

Software copyright Software Copyright Difficult to Enforce For those of you who love computer games, you probably know more about software copyright than you ever thought you'd want to know-especially if you have or have ever owned multiple computers. Most new games not only come with special copyrights but also built in security features that are designed to enforce those copyrights. Some have even gone so far as selling you the right to 'use' the material you are purchasing rather than providing you with actual ownership of the software to which they own the software copyright. That bothered me a bit at first, but I've come to understand it's another way of protecting them and their rights as well as controlling or limiting how you use the software they provide. Software copyright is actually quite confusing and hotly debated. Many stores will not accept opened software as returns because the software companies won't reimburse them for the product and they are left holding the bag. It doesn't sound like much but when you think of literally thousands of consumers attempting to return opened software because they didn't like or worse, they only needed to download and install it for it to actually run. Companies that produce computer software have become savvy to the ways of the modern consumer. Those companies that produce computer games especially require that the disk actually be in your player in order for the game to operate properly. This enforced the software copyright to the extent that two people can't reasonably share ownership of the same game, as they both need an actual disk in order to operate the games. But for every solution there is a hacker or budding programmer that creates a new problem for software makers and holders of software copyright to face. One of the latest problems is the virtual CD. The long and short of this is that the computer is tricked into 'seeing' the CD where it should be and carries out the game as though it were. Another important thing to note about software copyright is that there are many programs available that mimic some of the more notable applications for no fee. These are often referred to as open source software and often have excellent if not superior quality to similar programs that are available for fees. One thing I've noticed is that I will often find free open source software, download it, love it and a few months later I will find a more polished version of the same software, by the same company available with a few more bells and whistles for a fee. The new improved software has a software copyright and is not free to consumers but it is also a much better version than what I currently have. It's a great way for new software developers to make names for themselves and get volunteers for the testing process of their development phase. A software copyright offers protection and recognition to the owner of the software. The problem with protecting software is that it is impossible to police properly. That would require walking into every home on the planet and checking each computer to make sure there are no duplicate copies extra copies, illegal copies, etc. Plus, who keeps the actual boxes from all their software? I certainly do not. I could never prove that I was honoring the software copyright if the packaging or receipts were the only way I have of doing so. Most people in the world today honestly want to do the right thing. Software is one of the most expensive purchases people will often make for their home computers, it only makes sense to buy actual copies that have an actual software copyright in order to protect your investment not only in your software but also in your computer.

Check Download.com for the Best Free Security Software Around With viruses, spyware, adware and hackers threatening on every corner of the internet, it is essential that especially internet users protect their PCs as best as they can to not loose their files or even their whole PC. Buying security software at a local computer store can be very expensive, but protecting the PC does not necessarily have to cost private persons anything at all. Just by checking what for example download.com has available, computer users might be able to save as much as 50-100 Dollars and still be able to protect their PCs adequately. One part of the web page called antivirus, firewall and spyware offers different links to downloads from companies that help protect PCs from any harm. Most of the programs offered on the web page are free for download. Some of the programs are antivirus software, which generally will scan the PC according to your settings for example once a day. When the software finds a virus in any of the files on the PC it will put out a virus alarm in form of a message box. The PC users then have to decide in which way the PC should be cleaned. Some antivirus software will offer to delete the file, others save it in what is called a virus vault, where the virus cannot attack other files on the PC, while others clean the file if it is cleanable. Other programs offered on the page are firewalls. Firewalls protect the Pc from any attacks form the internet, such as hackers hacking into your PC, Trojan horses, viruses and more entering the PC is not possible, when a firewall is used and set to the proper security setting. Using a firewall is a good idea for any PC, but it is important to know that the way the firewall works it might also cause a few problems with software on the Pc that enters the Internet. Therefore firewalls need to be configured right to have a smooth running and protected PC. Many of the firewalls offered on this page are free for download, but generally most PCs have a built in firewall in their operating system that just needs to be activated or configured. The third major kind of protection software one can download form this website is spy or ad-aware detection. Spy and ad-aware are programs that are malicious for the PC user. These kind of malicious little programs are installed without the users proper knowledge and intercept or partially take control of the interactions of the PC with the internet without the users consent. Spywares do not just monitor the internet interactions, as the name suggests, it also collects personal information, can install additional software that will take over the control of the browser activity, accessing websites that will allow for example viruses to enter the PC. Spyware is also often called privacy-invasive software and something a PC as well as a user needs to be protected from. The download page does not only offer many of these programs for free, it will also offer patches and update files for these programs. Even though many of the companies offer the continuous automatic update to protect a PC from new viruses and other malware, some PC users prefer not to have an automatic update and download their own updates whenever they deem necessary. Whichever way one likes to update the PC, it is most important of all to know that PCs need to be protected and users do not need to spend tons of money in order to do so. Free programs available for download on download.com will give a PC similar protection and keep files and identity safe.