Shadowing Practice: Intellectual Property: Copyrights - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Copyright is the right to stop others from copying or performing or using or selling your creative work.
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Copyright can exist in a lot of different work products, certainly in software, in your code code.
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That can be copyrighted.
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Obviously, music and movies, these are all copyrighted novels, works of art.
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To protect your copyrights, you have the option of registering it.
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It's not essential, but it gives you advantages, and we'll talk about those advantages.
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Filing a registration does give you some advantages, some statutory advantages in the area of enforceability.
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You can't sue anyone for copyright infringement unless you have registered.
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In addition, statutory damages don't begin to accrue unless and until you've registered your copyright.
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So think about it.
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If it's a critical point of your technology, you might want to go to the trouble of registering your copyright.
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What is copyrightable?
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It doesn't take much to be copyrightable.
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It has to be original and it has to be creative.
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What isn't copyrightable is mere sweat of the brow.
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Simply compiling a list of everyone who attended the Ohio State Fair on Tuesday is not copyrightable.
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How you present that list might be.
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The term of copyright, the duration of copyright is just amazingly long
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and it's been lengthened by the Congress a couple of times over the years.
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It lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.
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That is a long time.
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It's more important perhaps in some artistic works.
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Mickey and Minnie are very glad that the copyright statute has extended the term of copyright protection a couple of times.
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They've been primary beneficiaries of that.
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This is very hard to study and search in advance.
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Probably it's going to come out of the blue.
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Someone will accuse you of having infringed their copyright.
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Copyright infringement comes in a lot of different flavors.
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If it happens, look at your development process for the copyrighted material or the material that somebody alleges is copyrighted.
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Now copyright infringement is not like patents.
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Patents, you can infringe a patent if you knew nothing about it.
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Copyright's different.
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You only infringe a copyright if you actually copy the work.
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So you put their design in front of you and you do your design from theirs and it looks the same.
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That's probably infringement of their copyright.
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But if you came up with a design on your own, that's not copyright infringement.
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You didn't copy.
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If in fact it turns out that you did copy their work, once again maybe you just removed the work.
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Remember, copyright only covers the expression, not the underlying idea.
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You may need to rewrite some code, you may need to rewrite some literature.
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Even if it does turn out that you're using somebody else's copyright at work, we're not done yet.
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There are defenses to copyright infringement, and one of the best known is fair use.
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Fair use is a very amorphous defense to copyright infringement, but it can be broad in the right circumstances.
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If you're making a minimal use of copyrighted work, it may very well be fair use.
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If you're using it in parity, it may very well be fair use.
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Complicated area, I just want you to understand that because somebody accuses you of copyright infringement, and even if it turns out that you've got their content in your work,
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stop, take a breath, think about some of the defenses that are available, including especially fair use.
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What you want to keep is drafts of works that you created.
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Remember, the argument in a copyright infringement allegation is that you copied somebody else's work.
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Well, if you've got drafts going back over a period of time showing
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that you developed the materials yourself and showing perhaps what source materials you did work from,
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this is going to be a very powerful defense against the allegation that you copied their work.
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Remember, copying requires actual copying.
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It isn't sufficient that something is similar.
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So if you can show that you developed your work from a different path and didn't simply copy their work,
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that's a defense to the allegation that you've infringed their copyright.
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Now, an important point, open source code.
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Code writers use it all the time.
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It's a major asset is a major tool.
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However, remember, open source code comes with its own licensing terms.
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And the most troublesome of these can be
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that the incorporation of open source code into a larger piece of code can render
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that entire larger product subject to the open source code licensing terms, which means that anyone can copy it and use it.
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That's probably not what you want.
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So be very careful about incorporating open source code into your code.
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And be aware that there are products out there
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that will help people search code that's available on the market for open source code to determine whether
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or not it is now subject to the open source code licensing terms.
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So, it's wonderful to have opportunities, and you have an opportunity to protect the intellectual property that your company is creating.

Speaking Goals for This Clip

This video is perfect for practicing shadowing technique—a key fluency milestone where you mimic the speaker’s rhythm, pauses, and tone. By following Peter McDermott’s clear, conversational explanation of copyrights, you’ll build confidence in speaking about complex topics smoothly. It’s ideal for learners ready to move beyond basic phrases and tackle professional vocabulary in real-world contexts.

Phrase Bank

  • "the right to stop others from copying or performing"
  • "gives you advantages in the area of enforceability"
  • "mere sweat of the brow" (a vivid idiom for unoriginal work)
  • "comes in a lot of different flavors" (for varied types)
  • "a very amorphous defense" (describing something vague but useful)
  • "stop, take a breath, think about some of the defenses"

These phrases work in business, legal, or casual conversations—try using them when explaining rules or problem-solving!

Fix Your Weak Spots

The video helps with improve English pronunciation of long, multisyllabic words like "infringement," "statutory," and "amorphous." Notice how the speaker stresses the second syllable in "copyright" and shortens "it's" to "it's" in fast speech. Use the shadowing technique here: pause after each sentence, then repeat it, matching the pace and stress. This trains your mouth to form tricky sounds and builds natural rhythm. Pro tip: Record yourself and compare it to the video—you’ll catch small mistakes that hold back your fluency. Learning English with videos like this makes practice feel less like work and more like a conversation with a teacher. So, hit play, shadow along, and watch your speaking skills grow!

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.