A Beginner’s Guide to The Copyright: Protection and Rights

The Concept of The Copyright

The Copyright is a legal ownership granted by the federal government, covering the intellectual property of original works and giving its creator exclusive rights in the reproduction, distribution, and use of his or her works for a prescribed period. These rights include literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, including but not limited to books, plays, music, paintings, and software, among other things defined as such in The Copyright Act of 1976. The requirement for protection under The Copyright is that a work be fixed in a tangible medium of expression for example, written in a manuscript, saved in a digital file, or sculpted.The Copyright law does not protect an idea, a process, or a method; rather, the expression of that idea is what is protected, in such a way that the original elements created by an author are safeguarded while keeping the underlying ideas open to the public.

When The Copyright expires, the work enters the public domain and may be freely used by others. The Copyright Act grants rights holders exclusive rights to reproduce, adapt, distribute, publicly perform, or display their works, and in the case of sound recordings, to perform them via digital audio transmissions.These exclusive rights under The Copyright can be transferred, licensed, or donated. However, there are limitations and exceptions to The Copyright protection, such as fair use, which allows for the use of copyrighted material in certain instances, such as for criticism, education, and research. International copyright agreements and U.S. law recognize these limitations, which are important to strike a balance in protecting creators' rights with a broader public interest.

The Purpose of The Copyright Law

The Copyright law comes from the U.S. Constitution. Its framers believed that granting authors exclusive rights for some time would help to promote science and useful arts. The main goal of The Copyright is to encourage and reward authors by giving them property rights. These rights allow authors to create new works and share them with the public to enjoy. The Copyright gives creators special rights to protect their creative works from being stolen. This helps them earn money while the public gets access to these works that might not be made or shared otherwise.The underlying rationale of The Copyright law is to benefit the public in terms of easier access to creative works but does not obligate creators to share their copyrighted works with the public. For that reason, works never published and remaining unpublished receive the same level of The Copyright protection as published works. The Copyright serves as a vital mechanism for balancing the interests of creators with the broader public interest, ensuring that intellectual property is both protected and accessible.

The Functioning of The Copyright

The Copyright is the legal means of protecting intellectual property. Intellectual property refers to something original or unique that requires a lot of mental effort to create. The Copyright secures such creations from unauthorized use, copying, or sharing so that the creator maintains control over the work.

The Copyright protection applies to various forms of intellectual property, which include:

Novels: These are written works of fiction or non-fiction that contain original ideas.
Art: Visual works like paintings, drawings, and sculptures that can be seen and touched.
Poetry: Literary works that give expression to ideas, feelings, or stories through arranged words.
Musical Lyrics and Compositions: Original songs, lyrics, and music, including notated music and recordings.
Computer Software: Programs and apps developed through coding, showing special functionality or designs.
Graphic Designs: Pictorial creations, such as logos, illustrations, and layouts used in branding and marketing.
Films: Cinematic works such as movies, short films, and documentaries that bring together visual, aural, and narrative elements.
Architectural Designs: Original blueprints and models of unique structural creativity and function.
Website Content: Creative expression like text, graphics, and multimedia published on the internet.

The Copyright protection grants special rights to the creators of unique works. These rights allow them to have control over the use, sharing, and selling of their work so that they can be duly recognized and compensated for their creative efforts. The Copyright plays a critical role in safeguarding intellectual property while ensuring that creators benefit from their original contributions.

The Copyright: Originality and Fixation

To have The Copyright protection, a work must be original and fixed in some way.

Original works are created by a human author on their own and show a little bit of creativity. This means the work must come from your own effort and not be copied from someone else. The Supreme Court has said that a work needs to have a “spark” and a small amount of creativity to be accepted. Certain things, however, are not considered creative under The Copyright. These include titles, names, short phrases, slogans, common symbols, simple changes in font, and just lists of ingredients or contents. It is important to remember that The Copyright protects the expression of ideas, but not the ideas, methods, systems, or discoveries themselves.

Fixed works are those that have been captured in a physical way by the author, so they can be seen, copied, or shared for a longer time. For example, writing a poem or recording a song makes the work "fixed," which means it can be protected by The Copyright. By ensuring a work is both original and fixed, The Copyright offers a framework to protect creative efforts and grant authors exclusive rights over their creations.

Works That Are Copyrighted

The Copyright protects only original works that are in some physical form. The Copyright protects the expression of ideas but not the ideas, discoveries, concepts, or theories themselves. For those, there are other protections such as patents or trademarks. Names of brands, logos, slogans, domain names, and titles are not protected under The Copyright. For a work to be eligible for The Copyright protection, it must be in tangible form. This means that speeches, music, discoveries, or ideas must be written down, recorded, or otherwise saved in some physical manner.Works protected under The Copyright, according to current U.S. law, are generally safeguarded for the life of the creator plus 70 years. For works created by companies, The Copyright protection typically lasts for a period of either 95 years from publication or 120 years from their creation, whichever comes first. U.S. copyright law has evolved significantly over time. One major change was the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, also known as the Sonny Bono Act or Mickey Mouse Protection Act, which added 20 more years to the protection period under The Copyright.The Copyright laws vary by country, with protection ranging from 50 to 100 years after the creator's death, depending on the jurisdiction. Regardless of these differences, The Copyright remains a critical legal framework for protecting intellectual property and ensuring creators' rights are respected worldwide.

The Copyright Owner

The copyright owner is the person or entity that brings a work of authorship into physical existence. In other words, when you take a photograph, write a poem or blog, or record a song, you automatically hold its copyright, so you are its creator and owner. Ownership isn't limited to individuals; copyrights can be held by companies, organizations, and other entities.
In many cases, the employer holds the copyright, not the work's creator, if the work is a "work made for hire." That means that when an employee creates a work while doing their job, the employer owns the copyright. The work made for hire rule can also apply to some independent contractors for certain commissioned works, like illustrations or custom software.
Copyright ownership may also be transferred by contract, for example, an assignment of rights, or by operation of law, such as by wills and gifts. In this way, the copyright may pass to heirs or other individuals after the death of the creator. Thus, the owner of the copyright may not always be the original creator of the work.

Rights Provided by The Copyright

The Copyright under U.S. law gives owners special rights regarding how their work can be used and shared. These include the rights of:

Reproduction: The Copyright owner has the sole right to make copies of the work or phonorecords.
Derivative Works: The Copyright owners can create or permit others to create new works based on the original, such as adaptations or sequels.
Distribution: The Copyright grants the right to distribute copies or recordings of the work to the public, whether by sale, gift, rental, lease, or loan.
Public Performance: If the work is a book, song, play, dance, mime, or a movie/video, The Copyright owner has the right to control the public performance of the work.
Public Display: The Copyright gives owners of works such as books, music, plays, dance, pictures, graphics, sculptures, or single images from a movie or video the exclusive right to display the work in public.
Digital Audio Transmission: In the case of sound recordings, The Copyright owner has the right to perform the work in public through digital audio transmission.

On top of these rights, The Copyright holder may grant others permission to practice these exclusive rights, although that is subject to certain legal exceptions, such as fair use. The Copyright ensures creators have control over how their works are reproduced, shared, and adapted, while balancing these rights with public access and use.

Duration of The Copyright Protection

The basic rule of copyright protection, set by the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement, is the life of the author plus 50 more years. Countries in the Berne Union can choose to make this time longer. The United States, the European Union, and other countries have decided to do this.

Under current U.S. law, for works created by individual authors on or after January 1, 1978, the copyright term is life of the author plus 70 years from the date of its creation.

For works where the author's name is not known, and for works created under contract, copyright lasts for 95 years after the first publication or 120 years after creation, whichever is shorter. For joint works, copyright lasts for the life of the last living author plus 70 years.

Securing The Copyright

Most people believe you have to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office in order to get a copyright. But the truth is, copyright is automatically granted whenever the work is created, so long as it bears a modicum of originality. A work is "created" when it is first fixed in a tangible form, such as a "copy or a phonorecord." This is similar to the Berne Convention, which says that copyright protection does not depend on any kind of special procedures. While registration isn't a condition of getting copyright protection, it does bring with it some fairly big advantages:

It creates a public record of the copyright.
You have to do this before you can sue for works from the U.S. If you do it within 5 years of when the work was published, registration creates prima facie evidence that the copyright is valid and that the facts in the registration certificate are correct.
If the copyright owner acts within 3 months of publication or before any infringement occurs, they may obtain statutory damages and attorney's fees in court. Otherwise, without registration, they can only obtain actual damages and profits.

Registration also allows the copyright holder to record the copyright with U.S. Customs, which assists in the fight against the importation of infringing copies.
To register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office, you will need to fill out an application, pay a non-refundable fee, and deposit the required copies of your work for registration. These steps are not necessary to obtain copyright, but they carry important benefits and make the protection official.

The Process of The Copyright Registration

The Copyright is granted automatically upon the creation of an original work in a tangible form, but there are steps that copyright owners can take to further protect their work. The first and most important is to register the work. While registration is not mandatory, it is a prerequisite for U.S. works if the copyright owner wishes to enforce their exclusive rights through litigation. Timely registration also enables the copyright owner to seek certain monetary damages and attorney's fees in the event of a lawsuit and provides a legal presumption that the information in the registration certificate is accurate.

Copyright registration also helps the public. It facilitates the licensing market by making it easy for others to find who owns a work and serves as a public notice that someone is claiming copyright protection. Also, it keeps a record of the country's creative works.

You can only register a claim of copyright with the Copyright Office in the United States. For further information on the advantages and procedures for registration, see the Copyright Registration Circular.

Using Works That Are Not Mine: The Copyright Perspective

We all use copyright when we read books, watch movies, listen to music, or use software and video games that are usually protected by copyright. You can still make use of the work even when you do not own it. Other than buying or licensing the work, one might seek permission, make use of exceptions and limitations in the Copyright Act, or perhaps use public domain works.

The Copyright Act has many exceptions and limits in sections 107-122. These include fair use, the “first sale doctrine,” some copies made by libraries and archives, certain shows and displays, and broadcasts sent through cable and satellite, among others. If you want to learn more about fair use, you can check the Fair Use Index. You can find the full list of exceptions in chapter 1 of Title 17 of the U.S. Code.

You can also use works in the public domain for free. This includes works that were never protected by copyright, like facts or discoveries, and works whose copyright protection has run out. For example, all U.S. works published before 1926 are in the public domain because their copyright terms have ended.

International Protection of The Copyright

There is no "international copyright" that uniformly protects an author's works in every country. The Copyright operates on a territorial basis; that is to say, the protection available for your work depends upon the national laws of the country in which protection is being sought. However, most countries are signatories to international instruments such as the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement that provide crucial protection to foreign authors.

Under these treaties, the copyright in one member country is extended to nationals of other member countries, ensuring that foreign authors receive no less favorable copyright protection than the country provides to its own nationals. This key principle, known as “national treatment,” forms the foundation of international copyright law. These treaties don't create an international copyright, but they make your work protected in most countries, provided the countries are parties to the treaties.

It's not automatically worldwide, but being in these international agreements means you can get protection in many countries for your work.

The Copyright vs. Trademarks and Patents

The Copyright protects the original works of an author but does not, in principle, protect every creation. In fact, besides copyrights, other forms of protection exist for trademarks and patents each with laws that grant their own protection rights in different fashions. While often confused with one another, copyrights, trademarks, and patents each protect a different aspect within the realm of intellectual property.

The Copyright protects creative works, such as books, music, and movies. The laws of trademark protect things that help tell one person's or company's work apart from another's. Trademarks are used to protect words, phrases, symbols, logos, slogans, and brand names that help identify where goods or services come from, which are not covered by copyright.
Patents are for protecting an invention or a new idea. They cover things like industrial processes, machines, and chemical compositions, giving the inventor exclusive rights for a short time. Copyrights protect how something is expressed, but patents protect how it works.

Conclusion

The Copyright gives the original creators of work the rights to ensure that their work is not used or copied without their consent. In the United States, copyright protection generally extends 70 years beyond the death of the creator, providing very long-term protection for creative works.

A work must be real and original to be protected by copyright. There are other legal protections, such as trademarks and patents, for different kinds of intellectual property. Each type offers different protections based on what is being protected.

FAQs

Q. What Is the Difference Between Copyright and Trademark?

The Copyright protects an author's original work from being used or copied without permission. On the other hand, a trademark helps to protect the reputation of a business by identifying things like logos or slogans. Both copyright and trademark are important for protecting different kinds of intellectual property.

Q. Do I need to register a copyright for my website?

Copyright starts automatically when you create your original work, for example, what is on your website. You do not need to register for the copyright to exist; however, registering does give you more legal protection. If you ever need to sue someone for infringement, you will need a registered copyright.

Q. How Much Does It Cost to Register a U.S. Copyright?

The cost to register a copyright in the United States depends on several factors, including the type of work and the manner of filing. Lower fees usually apply if you file online through the U.S. Copyright Office's electronic system. In that case, the standard registration fee for a single work is $45.

If you register on paper, the filing fee is more: usually $125. For multiple works or collections, the fees go up. As an example, registering a group of unpublished works or a group of published works with a single application could be $65.
There might be additional fees for expedited processing, where you can request that your application be expedited, which could cost something in the range of $800. In total, registration fees for the copyright in the United States can be from $45 to $500, depending on the specifics of your application and the type of work being registered.

Q. What About Other Intellectual Property Rights?

In addition to copyright, other forms of intellectual property protection include patents and trademarks. Patents are granted for an invention, any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, for a limited time. Trademarks relate to words, names, symbols, or designs used in business to identify and distinguish products or services. For more information on patents and trademarks, contact the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Q. What if someone else becomes the owner?

The Copyright Office is responsible for recording documents related to copyright. Recordation is the process of checking and storing documents such as transfers of copyright ownership, other documents related to copyright, and notices to terminate agreements. Authors or their heirs use these notices to terminate some transfers or licenses of the copyright.

Q. What Is Statutory Licensing?

Statutory licensing means that there are some limits in the Copyright Act for using musical works, sound recordings, and cable and satellite shows. For more information on musical works and sound recordings, see our Circulars and the Music Modernization Act page. To learn about cable and satellite uses, go to our Licensing Division page.