Intellectual Property    

Intellectual Property consists of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets, which are legally protected rights; they are also a major component of intellectual capital.[1]  Copyright is one type of intellectual property and it prohibits the unauthorized duplication, performance, or distribution of creative works.  To have a copyright means that the law protects some expression of thought that is fixed in a tangible medium.  Courts recognize that this law as a property right and see copyright infringement as trespassing on the copyright.  Copyright protects against infringement in literary, pictorial, graphic and architectural works as well as motion pictures and other audiovisual works including musical works and accompanying words.  Registering a copyright gives prima facie evidence of copyright; an artist must submit an application to the Copyright Office, two copies of the work, and a small fee to be considered.  There is a code set out in vast detail to explain how the Copyright Office determines whether or not an owner should obtain copyright on their work.  There are six “exclusive rights” of copyright:

1.    The right to reproduce copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords

2.    The right to prepare derivative works based on copyright

3.    The right to distribute copies or phonorecords of copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership

4.    The right to, in case of…musical…and motion pictures…works, to perform the copyrighted works publicly

5.    The right to display the copyrighted work publicly

6.    The right to, in case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of digital audio transmission[2] 

These “bundle of rights” protect and preserve the economic interests of copyright owners. 

Theft of intellectual property is rampant on the Internet.  The music business and its artists are the biggest victims.  Millions of people pirate music online every day; because of the nature of the theft, the damage is difficult to calculate and millions of dollars are at stake.  Unauthorized Internet music archive sites, using multiple formats such as .wav files or MP3 files, provide illegal sound recordings online to anyone with a personal computer.  Music can be downloaded and played indefinitely without the authorization or compensation of the artist and record company.  Other music pirates use the Internet to peddle illegal CDs that they have burned.[3]