Provisions for copyright laws
Article I in the portion of the American Constitution that mentions the promotion of ‘the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries’. The United States’ apex court has repeatedly made it clear that the reason copyright exists to encourage creative expression and its propagation creating an environment which would be positive for the American citizens to channelize their creative ideas. Shifting from the USA to the other side of the pond, the United Kingdom’s Statute of Anne 1709’ articulates the provision for copyright rules and laws. Its preamble clearly states that it aims to encourage and promote learning. Australia has also set the aim of its copyright law as the UK's.
The three countries as mentioned above have copyright laws which are influenced heavily by several international instruments that these countries have signed to, giving these laws an obligatory present form. A few examples of such international instruments are ‘Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement’ or the TRIPS Agreement and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
Contemporary times
In our day and age we as users, constantly play the dual roles of consumers and producers of content often on multiple social media platforms online. This makes it extremely vital to see the clear lines that copyright creates in and around the content of these social media platforms and how users can take action against one another. There are millions of people around the world who put up dozens of ‘Status Updates’ or ‘Instagram Stories’ by using the primary content created by someone else. It can become confusing as to what would happen to people in these countries subject to their respective copyright law.
The ‘US Copyright Act’ has categorized a list of copyright-protected works in a non-exhaustive manner. Content which is generally available online can be put into separate categories of audio, textual, video formats and images. They can be audiovisual works, graphic works, architectural works or compilations of primary material or information (derivative works) are all copyright protected under the US Copyright Act.
It is interesting to put the American copyright law in contrast to that of the United Kingdom’s law and Australia’s law. The copyright laws in both these countries have an exhaustive list of works which are subject to such laws. The subject matter includes dramatic, musical, literary, artistic works and sound recording and films as mentioned under the Australian Copyright Act. It can become overwhelming and confusing sometimes to comprehend whether the content created or used by users on social media platforms with almost no effort as input, would be protected under copyright laws. In the United States, for example, such content is excluded from copyright protection. The US Copyright Laws’ protection of expression and not ideas does not play the role of an iron-clad rule instead, plays the role of a broad characterisation. The idea-expression binary is prevalent in countries such as the UK and Australia too.
