U.S. Copyright Law: The Quick Facts

Want to learn a little about copyright law? Grab a coffee and keep reading.

United States Copyright Law: Overview

Anyone who creates an original work, such as a piece of writing, music, physical art or architectural work is entitled to copyrights on that creation. A copyright is a legal notion which appoints exclusive rights to the creator of original content. While U.S. copyright law is dense, below is brief guide to what copyrights are granted to creators of original works.
The creator is given the right to:

• copy their own work
• be credited for its use
• perform the work in a public setting
• restrict unauthorized use of the original work

As an intellectual property right, a copyright is similar to a trademark or patent and can be applied to any substantive form of information.

A case of copyright infringement is when a third party that is not the holder of the copyright engages in copying or other expression of the work to which the copyright pertains. Even if the work is not copied in an identical fashion, copyright infringement may still be in effect. For example, in the case of a song that is very similar to an established song, there may be a case of copyright infringement depending on the similarity of the derivative work. Similarly, if small parts of an existing song are recognizably used in a new one, such as when music producers compose songs out of samples from other musical works, there may be an issue of infringement if the proper usage licenses are not obtained for authorized use of the music samples.

Copyright Law: Transference

A copyright holder is entitled to a set of exclusive rights in regards to the original work in question. It is possible to sell or assign each of the rights to another person or company. If there exists express consent from the creator of the original work, usage of the work by the authorized party is not an occurrence of copyright infringement.

Copyright Law: Duplication Rights

As the holder of the copyright, the person or company may reproduce or duplicate the work in any fashion, for personal and commercial purposes. The owner also has the right to distribute the copyrighted work however he sees fit – whether by putting it on sale to the public, leasing it or even lending it to someone else temporarily. If the holder wishes to create derivative works from the original work, he has that exclusive right as well. For example, a film studio may not create a movie based on a book without the book author’s express permission. In the example of music, a musician or producer may create a remix of his own original piece, while a remix created by someone else would be a case of copyright infringement.

Copyright Law: Performance Rights

The copyright owner has the right to display copies of the work in public, on the Internet, in a movie or by any other means. He also has a right to public performance, meaning that he could perform, read, play or otherwise transmit the work to the public. However, copyrights expire after a certain amount of time, so holding a copyright to an original work does not guarantee that the work will never be reproduced or distributed by anyone else. There are additional exceptions for fair use of the work.

Copyright Law: Fair Use Doctrine

The Fair Use doctrine allows reproduction of copyrighted works for certain, specific purposes, such as for reviews, satire and teaching. This allows schools to study literary works, movie critics to publish their reviews and television shows to use clips of news broadcasts from other channels.
If you are a creator of an original work, your work is copyrighted at the moment it is created. However, to reduce the chances of copyright infringement, you should register your creation at the United States Copyright Office, as you can’t exercise infringement proceedings if you haven’t registered your copyright. To find out more about your online copyrights, contact the Kelly Law Firm.