Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States 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 This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. The Copyright Act generally gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

A. To reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phono records.

B. To prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work.

C. To distribute copies or phono records of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.

D. To perform the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes and motion pictures and other audiovisual works.

E. To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of the 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.

Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form: that is; it is an incident of the process of authorship. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created it. Only the author or those deriving their right through the author can rightfully claim copyright.

Two General Principles:

1. Mere ownership of a book, manuscript, painting, or any other copy or phono record does not give the possessor the copyright. The law provides that transfer of ownership of any material object that embodies a protected work does not of itself convey any rights in the copyright.

2. Minors may claim copyright, but state laws may regulate the business dealings involving copyrights owned by minors. For information on relevant state laws, consult an attorney in your state.

WHAT WORKS ARE PROTECTED?

Copyright protects "original works of authorship" that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible, so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following categories:

1. Literary works
2. Musical works, including any accompanying words
3. Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
4. Pantomimes and choreographic works
5. Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
6. Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
7. Sound recordings
8. Architectural works

WHAT IS NOT PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT?

Several categories of material are generally not eligible for statutory copyright protection. These include among others:

1. Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form 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.

2. Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents.

3. Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration.

4. Work 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.

HOW TO SECURE A COPYRIGHT

Copyright Secured Automatically Upon Creation

The way in which copyright protection is secured under the present law is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright.

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phono record for the first time. "Copies" are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. "Phono records" are material objects embodying fixations of sounds {excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CD's or LP's. Thus for example, a song (the "work") can be fixed in sheet music ("copies") or in phonograph disks ("phono records"), or both.

In a work is prepared over a period of time, the part of the work that is fixed on a particular date constitutes the created work as of that date.

PUBLICATION

Publication is no longer the key to obtaining statutory copyright as it was under the Copyright Act of 1909. However, publication remains important to copyright owners.

Publication is an important concept in the copyright law for several reasons:

1. When a work is published, it may bear a notice of copyright to identify the year of publication and the name of the copyright owner and to inform the public that the work is protected by copyright. Works published before March 1, 1989, must bear the notice or risk loss of copyright protection.

2. Works that are published in the United States are subject to mandatory deposit with the Library of Congress.

3. Publication of a work can affect the limitations on the exclusive rights of the copyright owner that are set forth in sections 107 through 120 of the law.

4. The year of publication may determine the duration of copyright protection for anonymous and pseudonymous works (when the author's identity is not revealed in the records of the Copyright Office) and for works made for hire.

5. Deposit requirements for registration of published works differ from those for registration of unpublished works.

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT

For works first published on and after March 1, 1989, use of the copyright notice is optional, thought highly recommended. Before March 1, 1989, the use of the notice was mandatory on all published works, and any work first published before that date must bear a notice or risk loss of copyright protection.

Use of the notice is recommended because it informs the public that the work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner, and shows the year of first publication.

The use of the copyright notice is the responsibility of the copyright owner and does not require advance permission from, or registration with, the Copyright Office.

Form of Notice for Visually Perceptible Copies

The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain all of the following three elements:

1. The symbol (the letter C in a circle) or the word "copyright," or the abbreviation "Copr."

2. The year of first publication of the work. In the case of compilation or derivative works incorporating previously published material, the year date of first publication of the compilation or derivative work is sufficient. The year date may be omitted where a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, with accompanying textual matter, if any, is reproduced in or on greetings cards, postcards, stationery, jewelry, dolls, toys, or any useful article.

3. The name of the owner of copyright in the work, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of the owner. Example: 1995 John Doe.

The "C" in a circle" notice is used only on "visually perceptible copies."

HOW LONG DOES COPYRIGHT PROTECTION ENDURE?

A work that is created on or after January 1, 1978 is automatically protected from the moment of its creation, and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life, plus an additional 50 years after the author's death

Works that were created but not published or registered for copyright before January 1, 1978 have been automatically brought under the statue and are now give Federal copyright protection.

REGISTRATION PROCEDURES

To register a work, send the following three elements in the same envelope or package to the Register of Copyrights, Library of Congress, Washington D. C. 20559-6000:

1. A properly completed application form. (For a new application for nondramatic literary work use form TX available from the above listed Register of Copyrights).

2. A non-refundable filing fee of $20 for each application.

3. A nonreturnable deposit (copy) of the work being registered.

FEES

All remittances should be in the form of drafts (that is, checks, money orders, or bank cards) payable to: Register of Copyrights. Do not send cash. Drafts must be redeemable without service or exchange fee through a U. S. institution, must be payable in U. S. dollars, and must be imprinted with American Banking Association routing numbers.