U.S. Copyright Law
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the
laws of the United States
(title 17, U.S. 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
and unpublished works.
Section 106 of the Copyright Act generally gives the owner of
copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the
following:
- To
reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
- To prepare
derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
- To
distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the
public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease,
or lending;
- To perform
the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical,
dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures
and other audiovisual works; and
- To display
the copyrighted 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.
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the
rights provided by the Act to the owner of copyright. These rights,
however, are not unlimited in scope.
Sections 107 through 119 of the 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 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.
For further information about the limitations of any
of these rights,
visit and download the text of the U.S. Copyright Act or visit to
the
U.S. Copyright Office's web site.
There is also a government
Copyright FAQ you may wish to check out. |
