Copyright

Introduction
Copyright is a form of intellectual property protection provided by the laws of the United States (Title 17, of the United States Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published works and unpublished works.

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.

Exclusive Right of Copyright Owner
Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:


 * To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;
 * To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
 * To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
 * To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
 * To display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and
 * In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

In addition, certain authors of works of visual art have the rights of attribution and integrity as described in section 106A of the 1976 Copyright Act. For further information, request Circular 40, Copyright Registration for Works of the Visual Arts.

Copyright Infringement
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the exclusive rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of the copyright. Such violations are referred to as copyright infringement.

Limitations on Copyright Rights
These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. Sections 107 through 121 of the 1976 Copyright Act establish limitations on these rights. In some cases, these limitations are specified exemptions from copyright liability. One major limitation is the doctrine of fair use, which is given a statutory basis in section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act. In other instances, the 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.

Categories Excluded from Copyright Protection
Not everything can be protected by copyright law. Categories of material that generally are not eligible for federal copyright protection including:


 * Works that have not been fixed in a tangible medium 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, and
 * 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).