EECS 690 February 12 Varieties of property rights

EECS 690 February 12

Varieties of property rights • De George writes that “Ownership is best understood as a bundle of rights” • What is in this bundle is dependent on what kind of property we’re talking about.

Kinds of Property: • Real Property – Refers to land the structures built on it • Tangible Property – Refers to the things we can touch • Intangible Property – Stocks, bonds, currency • Intellectual Property – Differs from all of the above, will be the focus of our examination.

What makes IP different? • It is infinitely shareable • Having a given piece of IP does not ipso facto preclude anyone else from having it. • Expressions of ideas are built upon other ideas that are not all one person’s creation. • Seems inherently social rather than individual.

Legal basis for IP (in the US) • US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 (p. 125 of De George) – Specific purpose is not for the benefit of the author or inventor, but the progress of science and the arts. – Protection is limited in time.

Three legal categories of IP • Patents (we’ll talk about patents after copyright) • Trade Secrecy – Extends legal recourse to steps that organizations, businesses, or companies take to keep research or other intellectual activity secret. – Applies to software in the sense that nobody is under any legal obligation to disclose everything that goes on while a piece of software is under development, and there is even some interests in keeping development opaque.

Three legal categories of IP • Copyright – The exclusive right of the author to reproduce, distribute, display, prepare derivative works based upon, and authorize others to do these things with their work. – Exceptions are for Fair Use: • Quoting a portion in academic work • Making copies for legitimate personal use

Duration of copyright • Since it is recognized that new ideas come from as well as add to the general social store, copyright is appropriately limited in duration, after which the idea is legitimately part of the public domain. • Until 1978, copyright duration was 28 years, renewable for another 28. At that time, it was extended to the life of the author plus 50 years (or 75 years for a corporate author). In 1998, the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act was signed (four years before Mickey was set to go to public domain) extending copyright to the life of the author plus 70 years (95 years for a corporate author). Mickey is now set to go public domain in 2022. If Vegas is offering odds on whether or not he actually will, bet against it.

Top Grossing Dead People (in 2007): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Elvis Presley ($49 Million/year) Owned by CKX Entertainment (Lisa Marie has a 15% interest) John Lennon (Largely through The Beatles, $44 Million/year) Owned now by Sony/ATV, possibly pending content in Michael Jackson’s will. (Jackson outbid Mc. Cartney and Ono for the copyright in ’ 85, straining Jackson & Mc. Cartney’s friendship) Charles Schultz ($35 Million/year) Administered by United Media (Schultz’s widow has a majority, but not controlling interest) George Harrison ($22 Million/year) (see above) Albert Einstein ($18 Million/year) Name and likeness trademarks owned by Disney, royalties paid to Hebrew University in Jerusalem (as per Einstein’s will).

Justifications for copyright • Utilitarian: – The best way to promote production of works of art and knowledge is to allow the people who create them to benefit from their creation, and society in turn benefits. • Fairness/Justice – Creators of useful or valuable expressions of ideas deserve compensation for so contributing to society.