WHAT IS A COPYRIGHT?
Copyright is a form of protection
provided to the authors of "original works of authorship"
including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other
intellectual works, both published and unpublished. The 1976 Copyright
Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to
reproduce the copyrighted work, to prepare derivative works, to
distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform
the copyrighted work publicly, or to display the copyrighted work
publicly.
The copyright protects the form of
expression rather than the subject matter of the writing. For example, a
description of a machine could be copyrighted, but this would only
prevent others from copying the description; it would not prevent others
from writing a description of their own or from making and using the
machine. Copyrights are registered by the Copyright
Office of the Library of Congress.
WHO CAN CLAIM
COPYRIGHT?
Copyright protection subsists from the
time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of
authorship immediately becomes the property of
the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their
rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright.
In the case of works made for hire, the
employer and not the employee is considered to be the author. Section
101 of the copyright law defines a "work made for hire"
as:
- (1) a work prepared by an employee
within the scope of his or her employment; or
- (2) a work specially ordered or
commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a
part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a
translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an
instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as
an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument
signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for
hire....
The authors of a joint work are
co-owners of the copyright in the work, unless there is an agreement to
the contrary.
Copyright in each separate contribution
to a periodical or other collective work is distinct from copyright in
the collective work as a whole and vests initially with the author of
the contribution.
Two General Principles
- Mere ownership of a book, manuscript,
painting, or any other copy or phonorecord does not give the
possessor the copyright. The law provides that transfer of ownership
of any material object that embodies a protected work does not of
itself convey any rights in the copyright.
- Minors may claim copyright, but state
laws may regulate the business dealings involving copyrights owned
by minors. For information on relevant state laws, consult an
attorney.
COPYRIGHT AND NATIONAL
ORIGIN OF THE WORK
Copyright protection is available for
all unpublished works, regardless of the nationality or domicile of the
author.
Published works are eligible for
copyright protection in the United States if any
one of the following conditions is met:
-
On the date of first publication,
one or more of the authors is a national or domiciliary of the
United States, or is a national, domiciliary, or sovereign authority
of a treaty party,* or is a stateless person wherever that person
may be domiciled; or
* A treaty party is a country or intergovernmental organization
other than the United States that is a party to an international
agreement.
-
The work is first published in the
United States or in a foreign nation that, on the date of first
publication, is a treaty party. For purposes of this condition, a
work that is published in the United States or a treaty party within
30 days after publication in a foreign nation that is not a treaty
party shall be considered to be first published in the United States
or such treaty party, as the case may be; or
-
The work is a sound recording that
was first fixed in a treaty party; or
-
The work is a pictorial, graphic, or
sculptural work that is incorporated in a building or other
structure, or an architectural work that is embodied in a building
and the building or structure is located in the United States or a
treaty party; or
-
The work is first published by the
United Nations or any of its specialized agencies, or by the
Organization of American States; or
-
The work is a foreign work that was
in the public domain in the United States prior to 1996 and its
copyright was restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA).
Request Circular
38b, "Highlights of Copyright Amendments Contained in the
Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA-GATT)," for further
information.
- The work comes within the scope
of a Presidential proclamation.
WHAT WORKS ARE
PROTECTED?
Copyright protects "original works
of authorship" that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. The
fixation need not be directly perceptible so long as it may be
communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works
include the following categories:
- (1) literary works;
- (2) musical works, including any
accompanying words
- (3) dramatic works, including any
accompanying music
- (4) pantomimes and choreographic
works
- (5) pictorial, graphic, and
sculptural works
- (6) motion pictures and other
audiovisual works
- (7) sound recordings
- (8) architectural works
These categories should be viewed
broadly. For example, computer programs and most
"compilations" may be registered as "literary
works"; maps and architectural plans may be registered as
"pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works."
WHAT IS NOT PROTECTED
BY COPYRIGHT?
Several categories of material are
generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include
among others:
-
Works that have not been
fixed in a tangible form of expression, (for example, choreographic
works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational
speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded)
-
Titles, names, short phrases, and
slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic
ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients
or contents
-
Ideas, procedures, methods, systems,
processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as
distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration
-
Works consisting entirely
of information that is common property and containing no original
authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight
charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from
public documents or other common sources)
HOW TO SECURE A
COPYRIGHT
Copyright Secured
Automatically Upon Creation
The way in which copyright protection is
secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or
other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright.
(See following NOTE.) There are, however, certain
definite advantages to registration. See "Copyright
Registration."
Copyright is secured automatically
when the work is created, and a work is "created" when it is
fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. "Copies"
are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived
either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books,
manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. "Phonorecords"
are material objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding, by
statutory definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette
tapes, CDs, or LPs. Thus, for example, a song (the "work") can
be fixed in sheet music (" copies") or in phonograph disks
(" phonorecords"), or both.
If a work is prepared over a period of
time, the part of the work that is fixed on a particular date
constitutes the created work as of that date.
