Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture.
Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.
Copyright protects original works of authorship, while a patent protects inventions or discoveries. Ideas and discoveries are not protected by the copyright law, although the way in which they are expressed may be.
A trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, or designs identifying the source of the goods or services of one party and distinguishing them from those of others.
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the air of a machine or device.
No.
In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.
Registration is recommend for a number of reasons. Many choose to register their works because they wish to have the facts of their copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration.
Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees in successful litigation.
Finally, if registration occurs within 5 years of publication, it is considered prima facie evidence in a court of law.
The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a "poor man's copyright". There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.
The United States has copyright relations with most countries throughout the world, and as a result of these agreements, we honor each other's citizens' copyrights. However, the United States does not have such copyright relationships with every country.
Copyright law does not protect domain names.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit organization that has assumed the responsibility for domain name system management, administers the assignation of domain names through accredited registers.
A mere listing of ingredients is not protected under copyright law.
However, where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a collection of recipes as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.
Note that if you have secret ingredients to a recipe that you do not wish to be revealed, you should not submit your recipe for registration, because applications and deposit copies are public records.
No.
Names are not protected by copyright law. Some names may be protected under trademark law.
Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something.
You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or artistic work.
Publication is not necessary for copyright protection.
You can register copyright in the diary only if you own the rights to the work, for example, by will or by inheritance. Copyright is the right of the author of the work or the author's heirs or assignees, not of the one who only owns or possesses.
Copyright law does not protect sightings. However, copyright law will protect your photo (or other depiction) of your sighting of Elvis.
File your claim to copyright online by means of the electronic Copyright Office. Pay the fee online and attach a copy of your photo.
No one can lawfully use your photo of your sighting, although someone else may file his own photo of his sighting. Copyright law protects the original photograph, not the subject of the photograph.
Yes.
Architecture works became subject to copyright protection on December 1, 1990. The copyright law defines "architectural work" as "the design of a building embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a building, architectural plans, or drawings." Copyright protection extends to any architectural work created on or after December 1, 1990.
Also, any architectural works that were unconstructed and embodied in unpublished plans or drawings on that date and were constructed by December 31, 2002, are eligible for protection.
Architectural designs embodied in buildings constructed prior to December 1, 1990, are not eligible for copyright protection.
No. There is a lot of misunderstanding about this.
Names are not protected by copyright. Publishers of works such as a star registry may register a claim to copyright in the text of the volume (or book) containing the names the registry has assigned to stars, and perhaps the compilation of data; but such a registration would not extend protection to any of the individual star names appearing therein.
Copyright registration of such a volume of star names does not confer any official or governmental status on any of the star names included in the volume.
Any work that is protected by U.S. copyright law can be registered.
This includes many works of foreign origin. All works that are unpublished, regardless of the nationality of the author, are protected in the United States.
Works that are first published in the United States or in a country with which we have a copyright treaty or that are created by a citizen or domiciliary of a country with which we have a copyright treaty are also protected and may therefore be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Minors may claim copyright, and the Copyright Office issues registrations to minors, but state laws may regulate the business dealings involving copyrights owned by minors.
Preregistration is a new procedure in the Copyright Office for certain classes of works that the Register of Copyrights has determined have a history of pre-release infringement. Preregistration serves as a place-holder for limited purposes, mainly where a copyright owner needs to sue for infringement while a work is still being prepared for commercial release. Preregistration is not a substitute for registration, and its use is only appropriate in certain circumstances.
A work submitted for preregistration must meet three conditions:
No.
Preregistration is not a form of registration but is simply an indication of an intent to register a work once the work has been completed and/or published.
When the work has been completed, it may be registered as an unpublished work, and when it has been published, it may be registered as a published work.
Preregistration of a work offers certain advantages to a copyright owner pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 408(f), 411 and 412. However, preregistration of a work does not constitute prima facie evidence of the validity of the copyright or of the facts stated in the application for preregistration or in the preregistration record. The fact that a work has been preregistered does not create any presumption that the Copyright Office will register the work upon submission of an application for registration.
A person who has preregistered a work must register the work within one month after the copyright owner becomes aware of infringement and no later than three months after first publication. If full registration is not made within the prescribed time period, a court must dismiss an action for copyright infringement that occurred before or within the first two months after first publication.
Preregistration is not a form of registration but is simply an indication of an intent to register a work once the work has been completed and/or published. The law requires that if you have preregistered a work, you are required to register the work within one month after the copyright owner becomes aware of infringement and no later than three months after first publication.
A person who has preregistered a work is required, in order to preserve the legal benefits of preregistration, to register the work within one month after the copyright owner becomes aware of infringement and no later than three months after first publication. If full registration is not made within the prescribed time period, a court must dismiss an action for copyright infringement that occurred before or within the first two months after first publication.
You must apply online; no paper application form is available. Only an application and fee are required; a copy or phonorecord of the work itself, or any finished part thereof, should not be submitted. Instead, the applicant must give as full a description of the work as possible in the online application.
The effective date is the day on which the completed application and fee for an eligible work have been received in the Copyright Office.
The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication.
As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first.
For works first published prior to 1978, the term will vary depending on several factors.
To determine the length of copyright protection for a particular work, consult chapter 3 of the Copyright Act (title 17 of the United States Code).
No.
Works created on or after January 1, 1978, are not subject to renewal registration.
As to works published or registered prior to January 1, 1978, renewal registration is optional after 28 years but does provide certain legal advantages.
Under the copyright law, the creator of the original expression in a work is its author.
The author is also the owner of copyright unless there is a written agreement by which the author assigns the copyright to another person or entity, such as a publisher.
In cases of works made for hire, the employer or commissioning party is considered to be the author.
A deposit is usually one copy (if unpublished) or two copies (if published) of the work to be registered for copyright.
In certain cases such as works of the visual arts, identifying material such as a photograph may be used instead.
The deposit is sent with the application and fee and becomes the property of the Library of Congress.
Publication has a technical meaning in copyright law.
According to the statute, “Publication is the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. The offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display constitutes publication. A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication.” Generally, publication occurs on the date on which copies of the work are first made available to the public.
A copyright notice is an identifier placed on copies of the work to inform the world of copyright ownership.
The copyright notice generally consists of the symbol or word “copyright (or copr.),” the name of the copyright owner, and the year of first publication, e.g., ©2008 John Doe.
While use of a copyright notice was once required as a condition of copyright protection, it is now optional.
Use of the notice is the responsibility of the copyright owner and does not require advance permission from, or registration with, the Copyright Office.
The public domain is not a place.
A work of authorship is in the “public domain” if it is no longer under copyright protection or if it failed to meet the requirements for copyright protection.
Works in the public domain may be used freely without the permission of the former copyright owner.
Copies of all works under copyright protection that have been published in the United States are required to be deposited with the Copyright Office within three months of the date of first publication.
Although the general rule is that the person who creates the work is its author, there is an exception to that principle. The exception is a work made for hire, which is a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment or a work specially ordered or commissioned in certain specified circumstances. When a Work qualifies as a work made for hire, the employer, or commissioning party, is considered to be the author.