What Limitations Affect the Owner's Rights?

• Jurisdiction: Maryland

V. WHAT LIMITATIONS AFFECT THE OWNER'S RIGHTS?

Several factors serve to limit the owner's rights, beginning with the limited duration of the copyright term. As noted above, the term of copyright was initially 14 years, renewable for another 14 years. Later, the initial term was increased to 28 years, and the renewal term was increased to 28 years. Beginning in 1962, the copyright term was gradually increased until it reached a total of 75 years for pre-1978 works and works made for hire; works published after 1978 would have a term of "life of the author plus 50 years." This, too, has changed.

In 1989, Congress enacted the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act to increase the term for works of single or joint authorship to life of the last surviving author plus 70 years; for anonymous and pseudonymous works³⁸ and works made for hire, the term would be 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from the date of creation.³⁹ The extension was vigorously challenged by many who feared that the history of continuous extensions effectively negated the "for limited times" clause in the Constitution. In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law, reaffirming Congress's plenary authority to decide how limited the copyright term should be.⁴⁰

Another extremely important limitation on the exclusive rights of owners is called the "fair use" doctrine. Fair use is said to be the principal safety valve that allows copyright law and the freedom of speech guarantees of the First Amendment to coexist. Specifically, the doctrine provides that fair use of a copyrighted work "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research" is not an infringement.⁴¹ Applying the doctrine, however, can be quite difficult, and there is no way to know with certainty whether or not any particular use is fair until the issue is adjudicated.

When fair use is raised as a defense to an infringement action, the courts will consider at least four factors in deciding whether the use in question is fair or not.

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.⁴²

None of the factors is...