Copyright and Multimedia Products: A Comparative Analysis (Cambridge Intellectual Property and Information Law)

✍ Scribed by Irini A. Stamatoudi

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 335
• Series: Cambridge Intellectual Property and Information Law
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Multimedia products have become highly successful. Yet they are often inadequately protected by existing national and international copyright schemes. This study is one of the first comprehensive, comparative analyses of multimedia works and copyright protection. Stamatoudi considers the nature of the multimedia work, and existing legislation, as well as collections and compilations, databases, audiovisual works and computer programs. Finally, she offers a model for a European legislative solution. Her work will interest academics and students, as well as lawyers and copyright policy makers.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 12
List of abbreviations......Page 14
Introduction......Page 18
1.1 General introductory comments......Page 20
1.2 History of copyright and redefinition of the term......Page 23
1.3 The choice between patent and copyright protection......Page 27
1.4 Notions relating to multimedia......Page 31
2.1 Definition of multimedia works......Page 33
2.2 Layers of protection......Page 43
2.3 Project participants in the creation of a multimedia product......Page 49
2.4 The difference between multimedia products and existing copyright works......Page 53
3.1 Literary works as works of language......Page 59
3.2 Depurification of copyright......Page 62
3.3 Fixation of literary works......Page 80
3.4 Multimedia products and traditional literary works......Page 81
4.1 Traditional approaches to collections and compilations......Page 88
4.2 The notion of works as components of a compilation......Page 96
4.3 The bond between literary works, compilations and multimedia works......Page 97
5.1 The database framework......Page 105
5.2 Beyond copyright......Page 111
5.3 Multimedia products as databases......Page 113
6.1 'Audiovisual works' as a generic term......Page 121
6.2 Composite characteristics of audiovisual works......Page 128
6.3 A comparison between audiovisual works and literary works, compilation, databases and computer programs......Page 133
6.4 Distinctive features of the regime of protection of audiovisual works......Page 136
6.5 Multimedia works as audiovisual works......Page 143
6.6 Multimedia products and the regime of protection of audiovisual works......Page 163
7.1 A multimedia work as a computer program......Page 169
7.2 Multimedia works and the regime of protection for computer programs......Page 174
7.3 Summing up......Page 181
8.1 Video games as multimedia works......Page 183
8.2 The case-law on video games......Page 184
8.3 Video games as a model for other multimedia works......Page 196
8.4 Conclusions......Page 201
9.1 Originality and qualification for copyright protection......Page 203
9.2 Qualification of multimedia works according to the type of co-operation of the contributors (the French paradigm)......Page 213
9.3 Qualification of multimedia works according to their nature......Page 220
9.4 A hybrid product in need of a sui generis copyright classification......Page 223
10.1 A copyright regime for multimedia products......Page 228
10.2 A 'database-style' sui generis regime of protection for multimedia products......Page 266
10.3 Collective administration and unfair competition law......Page 273
11 Conclusions......Page 287
11.1 A regime of protection for multimedia products: a mixture of the regime for films and the sui generis right for databases......Page 288
11.2 Wider implications for copyright......Page 293
Postscript......Page 299
Bibliography......Page 300
C......Page 332
M......Page 333
W......Page 334