Basics of Copyright Law
Someone asked me recently whether downloading TV shows that have been broadcast on TV is still copyright infringement so I decided to write up a little post about the very basics of copyright law. As most of the items people talk about, such as Films, TV Shows, Music are made in the US, I’ll try point out US copyright law as well as NZ law even though if it came to trial in an NZ court, NZ law would apply.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, if you’re not sure whether something you’re doing is infringing upon copyright, the best answer is to seek legal advise.
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The Default
Above all else, unless the copyright holder has given you explicit permission to do so you may not copy, alter, modify, redistribute or similar actions anything that anyone has created.
Everything is copyrighted when it is made. You have no right to do anything with it unless you’ve been told you can.
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Public domain
Certain items fall into public domain automatically. If an item is in the public domain you can do whatever you want to it. It normally doesn’t apply to any trademarks or logos contained within the item though.
Some of the items in this category are many documents released by the Government or its departments. -
Fair Use
This terms is often used as a broad defense against copyright infringement and it only really covers a few cases. There are a lot of edge cases, these require you to seek legal advise about because it is a very complex part of copyright law. In general though, you may use a copyrighted works for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or scholarship.
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Copyright Expiry
Copyrights expire on works after different lengths of time depending on when they were created, and for what purpose.
From Wikipedia’s article on New Zealand Copyright law:
- Literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works; 50 years from the death of the author
- Artistic works industrially applied; 16 years from when the work is applied
- Artistic craftsmanship industrially applied; 25 years from when the work is applied
- Sound recordings and films; 50 years from when it is available to the public
- Broadcasts and cable; 50 years from broadcast
- Typographical arrangements; 25 years from first publishing.
In the US, the terms change depending on when the item was created. For items created after 1978, the term is the life of the author + 70 years for things created by an individual. Work done for hire, for example created by a corporation it is 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shortest.
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Written Permission
If the copyright holder gives you written permission, you may do with the works are described in that letter.
To answer the original question, modern TV shows are copyright, downloading copies of them is copyright infringement under NZ copyright law and you can be taken to court for downloading and/or redistributing copies of them. Just because you had the privilege to see it (or miss it) on free-to-air broadcast television, it doesn’t mean that copyright doesn’t apply anymore.
Remember, the TV station paid a fair amount to buy you that privilege, they only bought the rights to show you it on their station.
If you need any more detail on these points please have a read through these links. If you have any corrections or notice any major omissions, comment and I’ll update the post.
References:
Alex Taylor is a web developer living and working in
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