Copyright Assignment As a professional scriptwriter, “failing to understand copyright can be a big problem for the scriptwriter both in terms of his own work or the work of others”(Almeida). I need to understand copyright laws so that I can avoid copyright infringement, but also protect my own work as well.
The first thing needed to do to make sure that copyright infringement is being avoided is to understand copyright law. The most basic thing to understand first is, “what is infringement?” If someone, reproduces work in copies, prepares derivative works based upon the work, distributes copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, performs the work publicly, or displays the copyrighted work publicly without any exclusive rights from the owner of that work, they are an infringer of the copyright of the author (Stopping Copyright Infringement). After knowing what infringement is brings the question, “what can be copyrighted?” Literary works, paintings, photographs, drawings, films, music (and its lyrics), choreography, sculptures, and many other things can be copyrighted. Generally the law does not protect the underlying ideas (How to Avoid Copyright Infringement). “Basically, copyrights protect the ‘original works of authorship’ that are fixed in a tangible form of expression” (Almeida). Understanding these laws is vital to making sure copyright infringement is being avoided. The next step would be to make sure that nothing in the script was taken from the internet or anywhere else for that matter because it was most likely copyrighted. Having others read the script would be vital in this step. They may catch a part that might have been seen somewhere else and unintentionally added to the script. Our society as a whole is bombarded with constant information. It can be hard to remember if the idea was actually something seen before.