TU100, My Digital Life, Part 3, Block 5, Session 1.2, Copyright, Activity 7, 8 and 9.

 Block 3, My Place., Open University., Part 5: Giving it all Away, TU100: My Digital Life.  No Responses »
Jan 242012
 

Activity 7

Why do you think The Open University has the copyright on this text rather than the author?

The OU employs the authors to produce the course materials and textbooks, so it is according to copyright law that the work belongs to the OU.

 

Activity 8

In 2006, the BBC broadcast a highly regarded version of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House’. Is this television programme copyrighted?

Yes as the audio of the broadcast is a new rendering of the original material, so in accordance with the copyright laws, that particular version of ‘Bleak House’ belongs to the BBC.

 

Activity 9

Do you think long copyright terms are a good idea? Try to think of one reason why copyright should extend for a long time, and one reason why terms should be short. Spend no more than ten minutes on this exercise.

One reason that a long copyright time is of benefit is so that the persons(s) / group that invested the time to create the original work can maximise their gain on their invested time. A reason for the copyright to expire quickly on the other hand, is that for technical items, the copyrighted object will more than likely become obsolete, by allowing the copyright to expire other developers in the field could have access to the developement material, saving time and research in getting to the point of the old technologies, this would also help to drive competition between creators of copyrighted material.

TU100, My Digital Life, Part 3, Block 5, Session 1.2, Copyright, Activity 5 and 6.

 Block 3, My Place., Open University., Part 5: Giving it all Away, TU100: My Digital Life.  No Responses »
Jan 242012
 

Activity 5

Which of the following can be copyrighted? A comic book, an Open University podcast, an abstract painting, the design of a car.

All of these things can be copyrighted.

Activity 6

  1. Is this text protected by copyright?( in  course material )
  2. When will the copyright expire on the Beatles’ original recording of their song ‘Yellow Submarine’ (released in 1966)?
  3. When will the copyright expire on the song ‘Yellow Submarine’, which was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon?
  4. Bleak House by Charles Dickens was published in 1853. Is the original text still under copyright?
  1. Yes, the OU course material is protected by a copyright which can be found near the start of each Block and Section.
  2. In accordance with current copyright law, the song ‘Yellow Submarine’ will no longer be protected by copyright in 2016.
  3. Again, according to current copyright law, and the terms of the copyright itself, the copyright will expire 70 years after the last living artists death.
  4. ‘Bleak House’ is in the public domain, and has been since approximately 1940 ( 70 years afer the death of Charles Dickens ). Whilst the original Text is public domain, any publisher can create their own typographically unique version of the book and sell it under their own 25 year copyright.