This week we discussed patents, trademarks, and copyright. A patent is something that applies to an invention, while a trademark applies to a commercial entity such as a logo, name, or phrase. A copyright, however, is given to the person who creates an original work for a certain amount of time. Copyrights are registered with the US copyright office of the Library of Congress. If a work is not copyrighted, then it is in the public domain and belongs to everyone and no one. The first US Copyright Act of 1790 granted rights for 14 years, if the author was still alive at the end of that term then it was renewable for 14 more years. Every time the copyright terms were reevaluated after that, more time was added to the term. Our copyright issue is inflected by the fact that we live in a corporatized economy. Meaning, everyone is only interested in making money. This does a great deal to stifle creativity in the world, because every little thing is copyrighted. We struggle to discover a way to reward the creator and founder of an idea, without stopping anyone else from using it. In fact, one Washington lawyer tried to challenge a law that extended copyrights even further, claiming the extension restricts an artist’s First Amendment right to drawn on works from other artists. This extension was enacted with heavy support and endorsement from Time Warner and Walt Disney, thus proving the fact that we live in a corporatized economy. This disallows people to build upon and further develop ideas that others have already created. There is a positive side to copyright, in that it allows people to protect their original ideas. For instance, Taylor Swift was being sued for steeling the words to “Shake it Off.” Someone claimed they had written the chorus to that song several years prior. Regardless of whether or not he did write it, Taylor Swift filed copyright for the song and therefore he lost the case.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-judge-uses-taylor-swift-lyrics-in-cheeky-dismissal-of-shake-it-off-lawsuit-20151112-story.html

This reinforces the importance of protecting your ideas, before someone is able to take credit for your work.