Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Soup of the day: copyright


ok so i have be instructed to write/type up a blog as part of an assignment.Now i used to keep a blog on my deviant art account, http://mintmannequin.deviantart.com/
Often, more often than what i do now days. but i have done so in the past, never really be a "blogger" though, nor have i subscribed or followed any regular well seasoned bloggers myself.

Anyway to start off i should really get to my point, though points tend to come at the end of a speil, i guess this is the end of my personal speil and the start of my assignment speil.

Copyright!!

well, when i hear that word it kinda brings a whole amount of confusion and sudden adhd, or simply just a lack of intrest.Though seriously everyone should have some understanding of at least their own countries laws.So i let it consume what little attention i do have.

The nz copyright act 1994 protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself, this could also mean creative style.

ok those last two lines have been regergitated from a powerpoint.

so secondly, the expression of an idea lasts from when it was created to 50yrs after the artist dies.
I think it should be noted the word "artist" would span across, musician, designer, ect.

I dont feel like typing up an unexpected essay here so lets get to the point of this peice.

as part of this paper im doing we are required to assess three copyright case studies, resourced from http://www.benedict.com

Case study #1

In 1976, ex-Beatle George Harrison was found guilty of copyright infringement for his hit single, "My Sweet Lord." Bright Tunes Music Corporation had obtained the copyright for the 1963 hit, "He's So Fine," which was written by Ronald Mack and originally performed by The Chiffons. Did George Harrison borrow his musical ideas from Mack's hit song? Judge for yourself.

Songs for personal comparison are here if you do not know them http://www.benedict.com/audio/Harrison/Harrison.aspx


As instructed i listened, quick and to the point, i think its a lot of fuss.
yes their similar maaaaayybe, if you have the musical ear, knowledge and such, but to the quick listener the tempo and instruments, of-course the lyrics, and possibly “style” are different.

so as follows we have to rate them

RATING SYSTEM: 5=Exactly the same 4=Very similar 3=Somewhat alike 2=Barely the same 1=Not alike in any way
Melody: 2
Harmony/Chordal Structure: 4
Rhythm: 2
Tempo: 1
Lyrics: 1
Instruments: unsure
1. How else are the two songs similar? i do not know
How are the two songs different? different artists.

now with this case it was decided that there was a copyright infringment.i actually disagree with it.

so the next case study, lets just call it ..

Case study #2 (no confusions that way)

The image example for this case is located at top of this post.

In 1987, artist Lebbeus Woods took a graphite pencil and created his vision of a chair. The chair is shown inside a large chamber with a high ceiling, mounted on a wall in front of a suspended sphere, and with a visibly jointed grid forming the floor and wall.
Universal Studios released the film 12 Monkeys in December of 1995. Bruce Willis plays the distraught time traveler, Joe. In the beginning of the movie, Joe is brought into the interrogation room and told to sit in a chair which is attached to a vertical rail on the wall. As Joe sits in the chair, it slides up the rail, suspending Joe helplessly several yards above the floor. A sphere supported by a metal armature is suspended directly in front of Joe, probing for weaknesses as the inquisitors interrogate him.

so is the chair the same, hmmmya think? materials, possible size and use could be different but apart from that no ones fooled.