Case 1:13-cv-01215-TSC Document 239 Filed 03/31/22 Page 15 of 47
Since then, the precise contours of the Copyright Act have changed, but Congress’s purpose has remained constant:
The enactment of copyright legislation by Congress under the terms of the Constitution is not based upon any natural right that the author has in his writings … but upon the ground that the welfare of the public will be served and progress of science and useful arts will be promoted by securing to authors for limited periods the exclusive rights to their writings.
H.R. Rep. No. 60-2222, at 7 (1909); see also Sony Corp. of Am. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417, 429 (1984) (This “limited grant” is “intended to motivate the creative activity of authors and inventors by the provision of a special reward, and to allow the public access to the products of their genius after the limited period of exclusive control has expired.”). “The challenge with each iteration of the Act, both for its drafters and its interpreters, has been to strike the ‘difficult balance between the interests of authors and inventors in the control and exploitation of their writings and discoveries on the one hand, and society’s competing interest in the free flow of ideas, information, and commerce on the other hand.’” ASTM, 896 F.3d at 448 (quoting Sony Corp., 464 U.S. at 429).
Under the current iteration of the Copyright Act, copyright protection subsists “in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression,” and vests initially in the author(s) of that work. 17 U.S.C. §§ 102(a), 201(a). Ownership can be transferred in whole or in part, and the exclusive rights of copyright ownership may also be transferred. Id. § 201(d). An owner of a valid copyright has the “exclusive right[]” to reproduce, distribute, or display the copyrighted works as well as to prepare derivative works based upon it. Id. § 106(1)–(3), (5). One who violates the exclusive rights of the copyright owner “is an infringer of the copyright or right of the author, as the case may be.” Id. § 501(a). The legal or beneficial owner of that exclusive right may then “institute an action for any infringement.” Id. § 501(b). To succeed on
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