Amanda McQuade

Compelling Question:
Do Copyright laws destroy creativity and competition?
INTRO
How I started:
A definition of copyright by the United States Copyright Office
brief explanation about the history of copyright law.
gives creators, such as artists and musicians, the exclusive rights to perform, distribute, and
receive profit.
what makes an artist eligible to have their work protected by copyright laws.
I wanted to start out unbiased, but informative to copyright laws, how they work, and why they
exist for creators to be able to keep their own original findings.
But then, I restated the question to dive into the topic, so the reader thinks about the question
as they read through the arguments.
(For Question)
Copyright laws are much more
flexible than people believe them to
be. Creators are able to be entitled to
copyright, even if they have the same
title of a song, or are similar, as long
as they were not copied off of
eachother.
Authors have the full right to
retain legal ownership of their
creations. Copyright laws were put
into place to give creators the
opportunities to supervise how their
work is being used by third parties.
Truth Hurts vs Bappi Lahiri is
a case when Bappi sued Universal
Music and Dr. Dre, when his song,
Thonga was sampled in Truth Hurts
single, Addictive, without being
granted permission by the owner. This
is a case, of why copyright laws are
needed to protect an artists original
works and the rights of ownership.

Sampling music, parody and

(Against Question)
Copyright laws are not
allowing an equal balance between
private ownership, and the rights of
free speech.
Lenz vs Universal is a dispute
between Universal Music Publishing
Group (UMPG), who accused
Stephanie Lenz of copyright
infringement, when she posted a short
29 second video of her baby dancing
to Lets Go Crazy by Prince, and
posted it on youtube. What makes this
a big deal, is that the song is under
ownership of Universal Studios.
Prince himself did not accuse
Stephanie Lenz, but it was Universal,
who owns the song, authorized the
video to be taken down.
Another problem, is how
copyright affects the economy. When
new innovations are not put on the
market, it disrupts productivity.

Copyright laws are extremely

satire in film, and criticizing work

outdated. Anyone can post their
without the permission is allowed,
creations on the internet. It is also
under certain circumstances under the
more difficult for artists to make a
fair use act, allowing a work to be
profit, when their public performances,
influenced or inspired, while it is not a
songs, prints, and images can be
direct copy of the original work.
copied and posted onto social media,
Copyright laws do allow you to be
so it is often difficult to prove
creative with your work, just as long
ownership to works of authorship.
as it is original and makes new
creative innovations to the work
Evidence:
parodied, criticized, researched, or
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
quoted.
Lenz vs Universal, EFF
Melody Walker, Washington University in St.
Evidence:
Louis
James Madison, United States Constitution
Shane Richmond, Politico
Stephan Carlisle, Nova Southeastern
University
Ben Challis, Buckinghamshire Chilterns
University
Starting Business

(For Question)
N/A

(Against Question)
N/A

CONCLUSION
Copyright laws do not destroy creativity, and were placed, with the intention of providing
creators with protection. This allows authors to produce and make a profit on their work, and
publicly perform their work. Copyright laws, should be reformed in different ways, so it is not
so easy for a copyright owner to claim unjust infringement, and it is not so easy for an author
to have their work stolen. Copyright laws are important, especially to artists, so they are able
to claim ownership of their own original songs, ideas, and creations. Freedom of speech is
very important to consider, but stealing the work of a creator, should not be permitted,
because it is not your own personal creation. Weather a person is protected under copyright
laws, or they are not, they should still have a basic understanding of what copyright and fair
use is, instead of making false claims with no evidence. Artists must be able to have
ownership of their own original ideas and creations, to survive in the world of competition and
be open to creativity. When artists are not able to own their work, they are not able to take
pride, or be able to inspire other artists.
Artists should be able to feel like their compositions belong to them, instead of feeling the
constant pressures of stealers taking their work.