What You Need to Know About Copyright

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Copyright protects original works of authorship and intellectual property as it relates to literary, musical, lyrical, dramatic, audio visual, audible, architectural, pictorial, graphical, sculptural, as well as many other types of intellectual creations belonging to the creator or designated owner. To be copyrighted, a work must contain a certain minimal amount of original literary, musical, or pictorial expression. All works created since 1978 automatically become the copyrighted property of their creators, once completed in tangible form for the first time, without doing anything else; but many people still choose to file an application and pay the fee to register work with the copyright office as added protection in case of legal disputes. Works created prior to 1978 have federal copyright secured only through registration. Copyright is available for all unpublished work, regardless of where a person lives in the world and as of January 1, 1978, creator copyright ownership is protected for up to 70 years after the creator's death.

Why Copyright Your Work?

Copyright protects against unauthorized reproduction, distribution, altering of the piece in any way, and performing or displaying the work publicly. Those with a visual arts copyright have additional rights granted which may be viewed on the federal copyright site.

The Myth of the 'Poor Man's Copyright'

There are many ways people have attempted to add additional protection to their intellectual property, including the commonly used "poor man's copyright" method. The method involves mailing a copy of the original work to oneself via postal service in order to obtain a government time/date stamp as proof of ownership since a certain date. The method then requires leaving the package unopened until an issue arises at which point the package can be submitted to the court as evidence and opened. The bad news is that this commonly used practice does not actually grant any additional protection by the National Copyright Office. You can, however, file for additional copyright protection by registering your work at the copyright office.

Work Not Protected by Copyright.

Underlying concepts, known facts, names, titles, short phrases, and clauses are not protected. Anything relating to the format, arrangement, and typography of a work are not protected. Standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures, rulers, schedules of sporting events, lists and tables from public documents are also not protected.

What are Patents and Trademarks?

Many people still seem confused about the differences between copyright, patent and trademarks. Patents and trademarks are very from copyright and very different from each other. Patents are used to protect inventions and discoveries, while trademarks protect words, phrases, symbols, and designs that represent products or services.

Copyright Exceptions.

There are many exemptions to copyright law, usually to serve the public interest, however the works are still under copyright. Works made for hire are considered employer creations, unless otherwise negotiated and specified in writing by both parties. Most personal noncommercial performances of a work (ex. watching a movie with friends) are not violations of copyright either. Other major exceptions include: Library and archival use, fair Use (scholarship, criticism), noncommercial reformatting of material from one format to another (ie. space shifting and time shifting), works in the public domain, first sale, and parody or satire. Further information is available by consulting the national office.

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