Copyright Enforcement and Defenses

Welcome to LawShelf’s video-course on copyright enforcement and defenses. In this course, we'll focus on enforcement of copyrights and exceptions to the ability of the holder to enforce. This course is a complement to our course on Acquiring Copyright Protection. If you have not already done so, it is recommended that you take that course before this one.

After our Acquiring Copyright Protection course discussed what a copyright is, which works are eligible and how to copyright works, this course follows-up by looking at the ways a copyright is protected, how to build on a copyrighted work, the transfer and licensing of copyrights and copyright infringement.

We’ll begin by focusing on the “work for hire” doctrine and determining a copyright’s true owner when two or more parties contribute to a copyrighted work. We’ll look at the ramifications of building on a copyrighted work and how and when copyright protection shifts from the original creator to a party that modifies it, specifically discussing the differences between collective works, compilations and derivative works.

In the third segment, we’ll discuss fair use, an important defense to copyright infringement. We’ll discuss the fair use doctrine under Section 107 of the Copyright Code and elucidate the necessary elements to successfully assert fair use and how courts evaluate alleged infringers’ uses of the defense. Here, we also learn about the fate of copyrighted works that make their ways into the public domain and what the “public domain” includes.

Copyright ownership doesn’t remain fixed, as an owner can transfer or license rights associated with a copyrighted work to another. We’ll address what’s needed for an enforceable licensing agreement and how the original owner can recapture his rights. We’ll wrap up the course by exploring copyright enforcement, how an infringement suit proceeds and an aggrieved copyright holder’s potential remedies.

 Best of luck and we welcome your feedback.