A Copyright Primer

Copyright Law may seem shrouded in mystery: how can you create, transfer, and protect property interests in something intangible? This lesson provides an overview of how it is done, focusing on copyright protection for music. This focus takes advantage of the multimedia capacity of the program; for example, you can listen to two musical works to determine whether one infringes the other, and you can listen to the parody version of "Pretty Woman" that figured in a decision of the United States Supreme Court. Students familiar with copyright law will find many resources beyond those they studied in class. Hypertext links take you to cases and statutes, and addresses are provided for web sites where you can obtain additional information.