Copyright Laws Protect the Owner from Loss of Profit

Copyright laws are designed to protect the intellectual ownership of the author or creator of artistic works. Originally, copyright protected the writer or author of a specific work from other people or any company from collecting credit or money for the original publishers work. However, today copyright law is more often used to protect the rights of corporations from losing profit, if someone else creates a similar product or posts the original product online for the public to view without having to pay the copyright holder. According to an online magazine the Economist, “Copyright was originally designed to restrict publishers from exerting too much control over information; today it constrains individuals from creating new works” (http://www.economist.com/node/2592996). Since, ownership of the intellectual material can be sold to another company or corporation most of the creative material becomes the property of whoever has the money to pay the most for it. Disney has purchased all the rights to the Star Wars franchise or copyright, which was legally owned by Lucas films. The original writers and production staff do not own any claim to the intellectual property of the Star Wars franchise and therefore the Disney company owns the rights to work they did not in fact have any hand in creating. Can someone explain to me how today’s copyright law is protecting the author and/or creation of a specific film in this case? The fact is that it doesn’t protect the author so much as the middle men or corporate owners of the film. The people who write the script, create the special effects, and produce the film are paid once for the film. Some people may negotiate royalties for future sales of the film; however, only the top paid...

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...yright law will ultimately send the force into stagnation and lock the Star Wars film franchise into being only a cult classic. Greed and creativity do not mix well together and the current copyright law is more about greed than protect the actual author’s intellectual property rights.

Works Cited

Carter, Ruth. "Should Star Wars Fans Fear Disney Cease & Desist Letters?." Carter Law Firm. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. .

Geigner, Timothy . "Will Disney Block Star Wars Fan-Made Content?." Techdirt.. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. .

"Killing creativity." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 17 Apr. 2004. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. .