Facts About Copyright
The theory behind copyrights is that protecting the rights of authors and the creators of other original forms of expression helps them realize the financial worth of their creations, and thus encourages such innovation of expression. In other words, copyrights are an important part of a capitalist society motivated by profits and the need to overcome costs.
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History
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In the United States, copyright law goes back as far as the Constitution, which gives Congress the authority "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." All the active copyrights in the United States are recorded and filed by the Copyright Office, a part of the Library of Congress.
Identification
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Copyrights do not extend to all forms of expression. Protected works include music, poetry, books, movies, computer software and architecture. These works must be original and not preexisting to be eligible for copyright. You also cannot copyright a fact (such as 2+2=4), a process (such as a basic recipe) or an idea independent of a particular expression. Thus, the theme of a novel is not subject to copyright, though the novel itself is.
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Features
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Copyright exists from the moment a work is created. The right of exclusive use of your original creations is recognized as inherent in the act of creating. Registering a work for copyright protection, however, is a separate issue. The federal government leaves enforcement of copyrights to those who own them, and gets involved only when a copyright holder files a suit in federal court for infringement (and even then the suit is between the copyright holder and the alleged infringer, with the court simply deciding the case). Though registration is not required to have copyright, it is required in order to use the courts in enforcement of a copyright.
Function
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Registration involves submitting an eight-page application form to the Copyright Office with a copy of the work (see Resources). The fee is $35 for registration online and $45 for registration by mail. The form, the sample of the work, and the fee must all be received together, or the copyright will not be processed. A "poor man's copyright," where you mail yourself a copy of a work, theoretically could support a claim of prior authorship, but does not in itself constitute registration of a copyright.
Considerations
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Copyrights are transferable, meaning an author can sell or license her rights. Licensing allows for temporary and limited use of another's copyrighted material, usually for a flat fee and/or commissions. Fair use laws allow for excerpting of large copyrighted works or limited reproduction for exclusively educational purposes. So, a professor who quotes a few lines from a book in a study guide prepared for his class, or shows a movie to a class one time, can invoke Fair Use. Someone who posts an entire novel or feature-length film online, even if she claims educational purposes, cannot.
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