"I. Fred Koenigsberg - Copyright Primer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Koenigsberg I Fred)

protection to the author, as creator of the work, rather than to the printer, as
exploiter of the work. Second, it limited the duration of copyright protection
to a fixed term of years, after which the work would go into the public domain,
and be free for all to use.

In the United States, immediately after independence, 12 of the 13 original
states enacted their own copyright statutes (in part as a result of lobbying and
efforts by Noah Webster *344 and James Madison). But, as was the case in many
other areas, the need for a uniform, national copyright law became apparent, as
copyright easily transcends state borders -- it is a simple matter to bring a
book from one state to another and copy it. This ease of piracy, coupled with
the lack of effective enforcement and the inhospitability of state courts to
out-of-state copyright owners were obvious problems.

Thus, the Constitutional Convention, with little debate, included the power to
enact a national copyright (as well as patent) law among the enumerated powers
of Congress:

The Congress shall have the Power ... to promote 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. [FN1]


The purpose of copyright, then, is to "promote progress" in learning (the 18th
century sense of the word "science"), for the good of all society. The way to do
so is to grant economic property rights to creators, as the incentive to pursue
their vocation and so enrich society. But there are limitations on those
property rights: they may only endure for "limited times," and may only be
granted for "writings" of "authors."

The First Congress after the Constitution was adopted enacted a national
copyright statute in 1790. Thereafter, the development of federal copyright law
followed a pattern that endures to this day. As developments in technology and
forms of mass entertainment, communications, scholarship and the arts occurred,
the copyright law would be amended to accommodate them. Periodically, a total
revision of the copyright statute would become necessary. Such complete
revisions occurred in 1831, 1870, 1909 and 1976.

The 1976 Copyright Act is the basic law governing copyright today. [FN2] But the
principles and, to a degree, provisions of the 1909 Act are still of importance,
for example, in the provisions regarding duration. The process continues: there
have been many significant amendments to the 1976 Act since it went into effect
on January 1, 1978.


Copyrightability

Under United States law, a work is either protected ("copyrighted"), or
unprotected and free for all to use (in the "public domain"). But what sorts of
works may be protected -- are "copyrightable"?