U.S. Copyright Law -- page 3
Rights and Limitations of Copyright Owners
Rights
The owner of the copyright has certain exclusive rights, including the right to:
- • Reproduce the work in copies.
- • Prepare derivative works.
- • Distribute copies to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending.
- • Display the copyrighted work publicly
- • Perform the work publicly (e.g., for dramatic or literary works).
Limitations
The rights given to copyright owners are not unlimited in scope. Among the limitations are:
FAIR USE
Considered one of the most significant limitations to the rights of copyright owners, the Doctrine of Fair Use states that the "fair use of copyrighted work for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."
The following four factors help determine what is "fair use"
1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes.
2. The nature of the copyrighted work.
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyright work.
IDEAS
Ideas, procedures, formulas, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries and devices are not protected by copyright law. However, the patent laws may provided protection for some of these items.
SYMBOLS
Familiar symbols, simple geometric shapes (although combinations of such shapes can be copyrighted), standard calendars, rulers, and height-and-weight charts can not be covered by copyrights.
TYPOGRAPHY
Variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering or coloring are not covered by copyrights.
How copyrights are created
A copyright is secured automatically when a work is created and fixed in a "tangible medium of expression." Copyright automatically becomes the property of the author who created it. No publication or registration or other action in the copyright office is required.
For works created over a period of time, copyright protection covers the work-to-date. For works that have gone through different versions, each version is a separate work.
Although copyrights are created automatically, authors may choose to also give Notice of Copyright (notice is generally required for works first published before March, 1989) and to register their copyright with the copyright office. The mechanics of the registration process are discussed later.
Note: that a copyright comes into existence when a work is CREATED, not when it is published. The Copyright Act defines publication as the "distribution of (or offering to distribute) copies of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending." A work is "published" when the author gives the public the opportunity to obtain it or, in some circumstances, to see it.
Although publication is not required in the creation of a copyright, it is an important area of copyright law. For example, the date of publication may have a bearing on the length of a copyright for a work made for hire.
Limitations to Copyright Protection
• Compilations, derivative works and useful articles.
Copyright protection applies only to the new material contributed by the author of the compilation and implies no right to pre-existing material
Compilations
The Copyright Act defines a compilation as a work formed by the assembling and collection of pre-existing materials or of data that are selected arranged or coordinated in a way that the resulting work, as a whole, comprises and original work of authorship.
Derivative works
These works are "based upon" one or more pre-existing works, such as the translation, adaptation, revision, abridgement, recasting or other transformation of the copyrighted work.
Useful articles
Copyright covers the design, but not the "useful article" itself. These are clothing, rugs, furniture and machinery that have intrinsic, utilitarian functions. Although copyright protection may protect any pictorial, graphic or sculptural components of such articles such as the design on rugs or other fabrics, it does not extend to their mechanical or utilitarian aspects.
Note: Some designs of useful articles may qualify for protection under the federal design patent law. For further information, write the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Washington, D.C. 20231.
What a Copyright does not Cover
Expressions of ideas versus ideas
The Copyright Act was designed to protect the expression of an idea, but not the idea itself. For example, and author can copyright his painting of a particular red design on a white background, but cannot copyright the idea of using the combination of red and white.
Examples of things that cannot be copyrighted
• Titles, names, words, short phrases and slogans (the trademark laws may provide protection for some of these items).
There are also some specific limitations for particular types of work. For example, for an architectural work that has been constructed and is visible to the public, the copyright owner of the architectural work cannot prevent anyone from displaying pictures of the building. The copyright owner can not stop the owner of the building from altering or even destroying the building.
Life-span of copyright protection
Copyrights only last a limited time. After that time has expired, works enter the “public domain” and may be used relatively freely.
All works created after January 1, 1978 generally have the following protection:
Individual and co-authors
Works by individuals are protected from the moment of creation, and are given a term extending for the author’s life plus 70 years after his/her death. For works that are co-authored, the term lasts 70 years after the last surviving author’s death.
Works made for hire/anonymous and pseudonymous works
The copyright extends 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter. In the event the identity of one or more of the authors of an anonymous or pseudonymous work is revealed before the end of that term, the time period reverts to the one appropriate for the circumstances as described above.
(For works created prior to Jan.1, 1978 the length of copyright protection depends on their status under the prior law on that date. In general, the current act significantly extends copyright protection for works registered under the prior act.) for works registered under the prior act).
All copyright terms run to the end of the calendar year in which they expire.