LAWCHEK®
& Lawsonline™
Personal Legal Sourcebooks
"LAWCHEK® Intellectual Property"
This is not a substitute for legal advice. An attorney must be consulted. "This
work is protected under the copyright laws of the United States. No
reproduction, use, or disclosure of this work shall be |
What is a copyright? |
Copyright
is a form of intellectual property protection over "original works
of authorship." Works
of authorship include literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic,
pictorial, graphic, sculptural, audio, visual and architectural works. A copyright owner has the exclusive rights: (a) to reproduce
the work; (b) to prepare derivative works; (c) to distribute copies of
the work to the public; (d) to perform the work publicly; and (e) to
display the work publicly. 17
U.S.C. §106.
Protects expression only.
Copyright only protects expression, not the underlying idea.
Thus, under the copyright law, an idea is free to copy, but the
expression of the idea is protected.
Automatic
protection.
In the U.S. today, copyright protection is automatic for both
published and unpublished works.
Any work that is recorded, written or otherwise "fixed in
tangible medium of expression" after January 1, 1978 is
automatically protected from the moment of its creation.
In contrast, patent protection does not arise until a patent is
granted by the Patent and Trademark Office.
Registration of a copyright provides certain benefits, but is not
required for copyright protection to exist.
Limitations.
The
exclusive rights provided by copyright have some limitations.
One major limitation is that "fair uses" can be made of
copyrighted works without the copyright owner’s permission.
17 U.S.C. §107.
Another limitation takes the form of a "compulsory
license" under which certain limited uses of copyrighted works are
permitted upon payment of specified royalties and compliance with
statutory conditions. Term. A copyrighted work is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life, plus an additional 50 years after the author's death. In the case of a work made for hire, the duration of copyright will be 75 years from publication or 100 years from creation, whichever is shorter.
Notice.
For works first published on and after March 1, 1989, use of
the copyright notice is optional, though highly recommended.
Before March 1, 1989, the use of the notice was mandatory on all
published works.
Copyright notice informs the public that the work is protected by
copyright. The
notice of copyright contains the symbol © (or the word
"Copyright" or "Copr"), the year of first
publication of the work, and the name of the owner of copyright in the
work. For
example, © 1996 LAWCHEK, LTD.
Governing
law.
The purpose of the copyright laws is "to promote the
progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to
... inventor the exclusive right to their respective writings and
discoveries."
Art. I, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
Accordingly, Congress enacted the Copyright Statute at 17 U.S.C.
§ 101 et seq.
Federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over copyright
matters. 28
U.S.C. § 1338. |
This is not a substitute for legal
advice. An
attorney must be consulted.
Copyright © 2009 by LAWCHEK, LTD.
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