what it says. It is the ‘right to copy’. If an artist writes a song or makes a recording no
one else has the right to make copies of it without the artist’s permission. With the
parallel evolution of technology and law, copyright has evolved to cover control by the
author of other uses of a work such as public performance, broadcasting and distribution.
Traditionally the term ‘copyright’ refers to an author’s works whereas rights of
performers, phonogram producers and broadcasting organisations are usually referred
to as ‘related rights’ or ‘neighbouring rights’ but in essence they are all forms of
intellectual property rights. In some countries such as the UK and the US related
rights are regarded as another form of copyright, but for the purposes of this
publication we will define the rights of performers, phonogram producers and
broadcasting organisations as ‘related rights’.
One has to go back to the invention and evolution of the printing press in the sixteenth
century to find the first regulations concerning copyright. The right to copy books was
limited to certain copyright holders. The first real copyright legislation came along in
1710 in England but it was not until the mid-nineteenth century in France that modern
copyright law began to take shape.
One of the main factors to be understood is that there are two systems in law.
The system applied in continental Europe and which originated in France is referred to
as civil law whereas the English legal system is referred to as common law. Civil law
systems place far greater emphasis on the rights of the author (songwriter, composer
or author of the lyrics) referred to as droit d’auteur, whereas common law systems put
more emphasis on the concept of copyright ownership.
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