Copyrights should be made more Aware to the Public.
What is a copyright, and what are the actual law guiding them? what are they rights on books and Electronics ? Majority of people are not aware of this rights.
A copy right is an intellectual property giving to a company, author or owner of a certain intangible assets such as Books, music, Electronics gadgets, films etc. Copy right originated in 1710 with the statute of Ann, it can also be called an act for the encouragement of learning. This can be seen as an act of recognition of work creating by a someone, the right to keep it and the encouragement to do more,both for coming authors of any kind. This not only give them the right to own a work, but also the right to benefit from it financially and otherwise.
Some publishers back in the day were using and reprinting authors work without informing them until the decision of the act was made. This statue of Ann gave authors right for a fixed period of time. It can also be an automatic right that take place once an individual creates a recognisable work. United Kingdom being the first to start the law of copyright has carried on with it because it work so well. They are currently using the Designs and Patients Act 1988 which last up to seventy years from the time the work was created.
In class we talked about copy right, why is the right to own a CD different from the right to own a book. You can lend someone a book, but you can’t lend someone a CD. When you purchase a CD or books, you are not buying the physical object, however you are buying the content of the object and is not allowed to use it in any form against the author. We know there are law guiding these things we use everyday, from books to Electronics but we disregard them most of the time however as long as we are not going public with them. Majority of people don't actually know what these laws are unless told and can easily get in trouble with them. Examples are like downloading music or films from the Internet is really illegal, but not as downloading a PDF files. Why? Why doesn't the same law follows with books and electronics, people download music for personal use and pleasure which can be the same with books, for knowledge and pleasure (on-line Novels).
I understand there are laws guiding these copyrights, however it is not fully made know to the public, one only realise when cut or fined over a misused law. While some people have no idea on what law they are breaking. They laws should be made more aware mostly in this day and age where everything is computerised, so that people would know when they are breaking the law guiding of any form.
In Bangor University library, I read a notice stating that "one is not allowed to photo copy more than one chapter in a book". Why? Were people aware of these?
References
Wikipeida.2009. Copyrights [online] (updated 08 October 2009) Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
Wikipeida.2009. Statute of Anne [online] (updated 05 May 2009) Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne
The UK Copyright Service. 2004. Fact sheet P-01: UK Copyright Law [online] (updated 11 August 2004) Available at
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
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