Article Critique

By Sandy Nightingale

LT731 Multimedia Productions

Intellectual Property Law Primer

For Multimedia Developers

By J. Dianne Brinson and Mark F. Radcliffe

This article attempted to explain the legal issues in developing and distributing multimedia works. It discussed the four major intellectual property laws in the United States that are important for multimedia developers, the copyright law, patent law, trademark law, and trade secret law.

The types of works protected by copyright, how copyright protection is obtained, and the scope of protection were summarized in the article. It discussed the consequences of and how to avoid copyright infringement. It also discussed the three factors involved in copyright protection, who created the work, when it was created, and when it was first distributed commercially.

The article stated that copyright law is the most important intellectual property law for protecting rights in multimedia works, but that a multimedia developer needs to know enough about patent, trademark, and trade secret law to avoid infringing intellectual property rights.

The authors showed the steps that a hypothetical company would have had to take in order to produce a new multimedia work legally. Because of the youth of the multimedia industry, legal issues are complicated and an understanding of these issues is critical.

This article summarized some very important legal issues that would be helpful to someone producing a multimedia work. It outlined the steps to follow when you create original work, how to protect your work, and also the steps you need to take in order to legally use parts of other’s work.

I felt that the authors did an excellent job of explaining legal issues in developing and distributing multimedia works. I am relatively new at developing multimedia projects, so I learned a great deal from reading the article. I didn’t realize that registration with the Copyright Office is optional or that if you do register, you will be eligible to receive attorney’s fees and/or statuatory damages in the case of copyright infringement. I also didn’t realize that the copyright law is in effect even when a copyright is not listed on the work, or that the copyright term for works created after January 1, 1978 is the life of the author plus 50 years.

This article will help me to avoid unknowingly breaking any intellectual property laws when producing multimedia works and will help me to protect my original works as a multimedia developer.