50 Fun Facts About Copyright

Whose 1963 speech at the Lincoln Memorial is protected by copyright, as a 1999 lawsuit against CBS confirmed?

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to a vast radio and television audience, which raised doubts over whether the words had passed into the public domain. The courts sided with his estate.

Photos of which Paris landmark are free to publish by day, though its operator claims copyright over the night lights?

The Eiffel Tower itself has been in the public domain since 1993, 70 years after Gustave Eiffel's death. A French court ruled in 1990 that a light display on it was an original creation in its own right.

Which animal pressed the shutter for the 2011 selfies that led US officials to say only humans can hold copyright?

A monkey, a crested macaque in Indonesia, took the pictures with photographer David Slater's camera. An animal rights group sued on its behalf, calling it Naruto, and the case was dismissed.

Which song did Warner Chappell collect licensing fees on until a US court threw out its copyright claim in 2015?

Happy Birthday to You is traced to a greeting tune two Kentucky sisters published for kindergarten classes in 1893. Warner Chappell agreed to pay back $14 million in fees.

Which 1928 Mickey Mouse cartoon entered the US public domain in 2024?

Steamboat Willie had been due to lapse in 2003 before a 1998 law added 20 more years. Two earlier silent Mickey films had failed to find a distributor, so this counts as his official debut.

Which storybook bear entered the US public domain in 2022 and promptly became the killer in a low-budget horror film?

Winnie-the-Pooh became fair game once A. A. Milne's 1926 book lost its protection. The slasher Blood and Honey, made on a shoestring, took $7.7 million worldwide.

British law lets Great Ormond Street Hospital collect payments forever from stagings of which children's story?

Peter Pan was a gift: J. M. Barrie handed the rights to the London children's hospital in 1929 and asked that the sums never be revealed. A 1988 Act made the payments permanent.

A court ordered every copy of the 1922 film Nosferatu destroyed after the widow of which novel's author sued?

Dracula had been filmed without permission, with the count renamed Orlok. Bram Stoker's widow Florence won, yet several prints survived, which is why the film can be watched now.

George Harrison was found to have subconsciously copied the Chiffons' He's So Fine in which chart-topping solo single?

My Sweet Lord, the first number one by an ex-Beatle, was ruled an infringement although the judge accepted the copying was unintentional. Harrison then wrote the upbeat This Song about the case.

Which 1946 film became a Christmas television staple after a 1974 clerical error let its US copyright lapse?

It's a Wonderful Life was then shown again and again each December, which is how it became a classic. In 1993 its owner reclaimed control through the short story it was based on.

Which file-sharing service, launched in 1999 by Shawn Fanning, shut down after Metallica and the record labels sued?

Napster took its name from Fanning's school nickname and let millions swap songs directly between their computers. An injunction closed the whole network in July 2001.

Vanilla Ice settled out of court after Ice Ice Baby borrowed the bassline of which earlier rock hit?

Under Pressure earned Bowie and every member of Queen a songwriting credit on the rap hit. Vanilla Ice had claimed that one added note made his bassline different, which he later called a joke.

Which kind of legal protection, separate from copyright, covers a brand name such as Pepsi or a company's logo?

A trademark can be renewed indefinitely for as long as the mark is in use, while copyright runs out. Even a shape can qualify: the contoured Coca-Cola bottle is registered as one.

What is the term for passing off someone else's writing as your own, which can be wrong even where no copyright applies?

Plagiarism is about credit, not permission: copying a long-dead author without acknowledgement breaks no law but is cheating all the same. Infringement means using protected work without consent.

Which founding US document lets Congress grant authors exclusive rights to their writings, but only for limited times?

The US Constitution ties the power to a purpose: promoting the progress of science and useful arts. James Madison was among the delegates who proposed it, and the same clause covers inventors.

Which company's Betamax recorder was cleared by the US Supreme Court in 1984, making home taping of TV shows fair use?

Sony won by a single vote, 5–4, after Universal and Disney had objected to the machines. Recording a programme to watch later, known as time-shifting, was held not to infringe.

A 2015 jury found that the Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams hit Blurred Lines copied a 1977 song by which soul singer?

Marvin Gaye's family argued the hit copied the feel and sound of Got to Give It Up, which Thicke had called one of his favourite songs. Gaye was given a posthumous songwriting credit.

Which bestselling thriller survived a 2006 lawsuit by two authors who said it stole their Holy Grail theory?

The Da Vinci Code was safe, the judge held, because a novelist is free to use ideas that others have presented as historical research. The claimants had written The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

Which accordion-playing comedy act asks artists' permission before spoofing their hits, though parody can be fair use?

Weird Al Yankovic asks as a courtesy, and most stars agree: Kurt Cobain reportedly took a Nirvana spoof as a sign the band had made it. Lady Gaga approved hers after her manager had refused.

Which American novelist urged Congress in 1906 to extend copyright so that it would take care of an author's children?

Mark Twain backed a term of the author's life plus 50 years and said the grandchildren could take care of themselves. He had earlier put his own rights in his wife's name to keep them from creditors.

Which English novelist spent his 1842 American tour complaining that US publishers printed his books without paying?

Charles Dickens got 25 American writers, led by Washington Irving, to sign a petition to Congress. The press called him mercenary, and the US gave foreign authors no protection until 1891.

The heirs of sculptor Edvard Eriksen sued a newspaper over a cartoon of which famous statue, losing in 2023?

The Little Mermaid stays protected until 2030, seventy years after Eriksen's death. Two lower courts had sided with the heirs before Denmark's Supreme Court ruled the cartoon a lawful parody.

Led Zeppelin won a 2020 US appeal over claims that the opening of which song was lifted from Spirit's Taurus?

Stairway to Heaven opens with acoustic arpeggios that resemble the 1968 instrumental. Spirit's guitarist, who wrote it, never sued; a trust filed the claim in 2014, years after his death.

Which part of a novel gets no protection under US copyright law, which is why different books can share one?

Its title is left free for anyone, along with names, slogans, short phrases and band names. A recipe's bare list of ingredients gets no protection either.

At what moment does an original sketch first gain copyright protection under United States law?

When it is drawn, a picture is protected at once, because the law asks only that a work be fixed in a tangible form. Registration is optional, though it is needed before bringing a lawsuit.

How many copyright strikes within 90 days lead YouTube to terminate a channel and remove all of its videos?

Three strikes close the channel, wipe its videos and bar the owner from opening another. Each strike expires after 90 days, so a careful creator's count can fall back to zero.

Which automated YouTube system checks every upload against a database of fingerprints supplied by copyright owners?

Content ID lets the owner decide what happens to a match: block the video, track its viewing figures, or run adverts on it and keep the proceeds.

Which 1998 US law created the notice-and-takedown process websites use to remove uploads that infringe copyright?

The DMCA, signed by Bill Clinton, spares a site from liability for what its users post so long as it acts promptly on complaints. That bargain is called a safe harbor.

Which nonprofit, founded in 2001, offers free licences that let creators share work on conditions such as giving credit?

Creative Commons licences cover the text of the world's biggest online encyclopaedia, which anyone may reuse with credit. Law professor Lawrence Lessig co-founded the group to counter what he called a permission culture.

What term describes licences such as the GNU GPL, which let anyone adapt software if the result stays equally free?

Copyleft turns the usual rights notice on its head, and its symbol is a backwards C in a circle. Richard Stallman, who wrote the GPL, took the word from a letter he received in the mid-1980s.

The US Copyright Office, which registers books, films and songs, is a department of which Washington institution?

The Library of Congress took on the work in 1870 under librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford. The office sits in its James Madison Memorial Building and is headed by an official called the Register.

A 2014 US ruling said writers needed no licence to use which detective, since most of his stories were out of copyright?

Sherlock Holmes was free to use, the court held, apart from details found only in the last ten stories. The Conan Doyle estate had been charging authors and film-makers licence fees.

Which singer turned congressman, who died months before it passed, lends his name to a 1998 US copyright extension law?

Sonny Bono, once half of a pop duo with Cher, died in a skiing accident nine months before the law was signed. It added 20 years, taking most terms to the author's life plus 70.

Which 1886 treaty, named after a Swiss city, sets the minimum protection member countries must give foreign authors?

The Berne Convention began with just ten countries and grew out of a campaign by a writers' association. The United States stayed outside for more than a century, joining only in 1989.

Which British law of 1710, the first modern copyright act, limited protection to 14 years with one renewal?

The Statute of Anne broke the grip of the Stationers' Company, a printers' guild that had controlled what could be published and acted as censor. Its bill promised the encouragement of learning.

Which company's project to scan millions of library books without permission was ruled a fair use by US courts?

Google convinced the judges that showing only short extracts made its index a digital card catalogue, not a substitute for the books. Authors and publishers had fought the project from 2005 to 2015.

The US Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that Android's reuse of 11,500 lines from which programming language was fair use?

Java's owner Oracle had sought up to $9 billion in damages. The justices voted 6–2 that the copying was fair, without deciding whether such software interfaces can be protected at all.

Which rap group's spoof of Roy Orbison's Oh, Pretty Woman led the Supreme Court to rule parody can be fair use?

2 Live Crew had asked for a licence, been refused, and released the song anyway. The 1994 ruling held that selling a parody for profit does not stop it being fair.

Which Swedish file-sharing site saw its four operators sentenced to prison in 2009 for assisting copyright infringement?

The Pirate Bay's operators each received a year in prison and shared a bill of 30 million kronor. An appeal court later shortened the jail terms but raised the damages.

On which annual holiday do books, films and songs enter the public domain as their copyright terms run out?

New Year's Day doubles as Public Domain Day, an observance first mentioned in 2004. Terms are counted from the end of the calendar year in which an author died, so each batch is freed together.

Which Latin American country protects copyright for 100 years after an author's death, the longest term anywhere?

Mexico's term of a full century after death towers over the rest: the main international treaty asks for only 50 years, while the United States and the European Union use 70.

Which US legal principle lets the owner of a paperback pass on or lend that copy without asking the copyright holder?

The first-sale doctrine dates from a 1908 Supreme Court case in which Macy's sold books for less than the price the publisher had printed inside. It is what makes library lending and second-hand sales lawful.

The US Supreme Court ruled in 1991 that which kind of publication lacked the originality that copyright requires?

A phone book's alphabetical listings took effort but no creativity, wrote Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The ruling ended the old idea that hard work alone, the sweat of the brow, earned protection.

An 1884 US ruling that photographs can be copyrighted arose from Napoleon Sarony's portrait of which Irish writer?

Oscar Wilde was posed, dressed and lit by Sarony, and the court held that those choices made the photographer an author. A lithography firm had been selling copies of the picture without permission.

On record sleeves, the circled letter P marks rights in the sound recording itself and stands for which word?

Phonogram is the legal term for a sound recording in many countries. The mark was introduced by an international treaty signed in Rome in 1961 and went on to appear on LPs, cassettes and compact discs.

A court ruling on which rapper's uncleared sample of Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again (Naturally) reshaped hip-hop?

Biz Markie lost, and from then on every sample had to be approved by the original owner. He replied in 1993 with an album mischievously titled All Samples Cleared!

Which word, central to fair use since a 1994 Supreme Court ruling, describes a work that adds new expression or meaning?

Transformative uses weigh heavily in the borrower's favour, the justices said, while making money from the new work counts for less. The test asks whether the copy merely replaces the original.

YouTube's Copyright School video, shown to first-time offenders from 2011, starred characters from which web cartoon?

Happy Tree Friends lent its character Russell, who films a movie in a cinema and uploads it. Offenders then had to pass a quiz, and the video was widely disliked.

Which French novelist founded the writers' group whose lobbying produced the 1886 international copyright treaty?

Victor Hugo was honorary president of the International Literary and Artistic Association, set up in Paris in 1878. He died in 1885, the year before the treaty was signed.

Which 1968 horror film has been in the public domain from release because its distributor left off the copyright notice?

Night of the Living Dead lost its notice when the distributor renamed it from Night of the Flesh Eaters. Anyone could then copy or remake it, which is why so many versions exist.