Copyright Law

Getting a copyright for your creative work, be it written, music, photograph, audio or video, is easy. In fact, it's automatic. You created it, you own the copyright under U.S. copyright laws,...

Copyright infringement is the act of using someone else's copyright work, in whole or in part, without the copyright holder's permission. It is a serious offense, for which one could be sued for...

While most copyright infringements fall under the jurisdiction of civil law in the United States, in the early 1990s it became a felony to make more than 10 copies of a copyrighted item or the...

Copyright law protects the exclusive use of an artistic or creative work by the copyright holder, who is not always the author or creator of the work. Copyright law enables others to use a portion...

The Software Copyright Act, also known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), went into effect in 1998. It was designed to modernize U.S. copyright law in response to new technology and...

Copyright is the part of the law that protects the interests of artists and other producers of intellectual property. The U.S. Copyright Office, part of the Library of Congress, maintains records...

As people discover various uses for the World Wide Web, a lot of intellectual property is published online. Even though it may not be ethical for someone to use your creations, it happens. Because...

Title 17 of the U.S. Code contains federal copyright laws. The subject matter and scope of a copyright are described in Chapter one, sections 106 to 122. A violation of the exclusive rights...

If you are the author of a creative work, your common law rights begin from the time your work is set in fixed form. Registering your work with the U.S. Copyright Office, however, is a way to give...

Copyright law in the digital age is continually evolving to protect the exclusive rights of copyholders of digital media and art forms that can be transferred through digital means. However, the...

The purpose of federal copyright laws is spelled out in the U.S. Constitution, which authorizes Congress "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to...

U.S. copyright law has a rich, long tradition. Current law has roots in the U.S. Constitution's Patent & Copyright Clause, which acknowledged that authors and inventors held exclusive rights...

Just as state laws establish penalties including fines and jail terms for those charged with driving under the influence of alcohol of other substances, copyright law is not enforced until a...

A copyright violation occurs when an individual disregards the exclusive rights of a copyright holder through the unapproved copying or use of the author's creative work. This violation is known...

Copyright infringers may want to tread carefully, as penalties for violating copyright laws can be quite severe. Those found guilty of infringing the exclusive rights of a copyright holder by...

A violation of copyright law is known as "infringement." Many copyright holders file suit against accused infringers in federal court simply to cease the infringing activity. However, if...

The U.S. Copyright Law of 1976 provides for a certain defense to a charge of copyright infringement known as "fair use." When determining if a fair-use defense applies to an infringement...

Copyright laws are laws that govern the reproduction of original creative works. Original creative works include literature, poetry, music and fine art. When a person creates an original work, he...

Those familiar with federal copyright law know that it provides for certain exemptions that protect individuals who wish to use copyrighted materials without fear of being accused of infringement...

If you’ve ever found your copyrighted work published on a website or even in print without your permission then you know how horrible it feels to not know what to do about it. In this internet...

Software companies lost in the neighborhood of $50 billion in 2008 due to intellectual property theft, commonly known as copyright infringement or piracy. Legislation is in place to stop the...

There has been a multitude of information about plagiarism and copyright infringement written and reported on, especially now that we are fully entrenched in the internet age. Many people though...

Copyright laws have existed since 1790. Digital technology seems to make it increasingly difficult to administer copyright protection especially in the case of audio works; however, the law is the...

Copyrights are regulated by Title 17, chapters 1 through 13 as well as a number of other acts which amend Title 17. In particular, chapters 10 and 11 deal with music copyright law. Because of the...

When you work hard to produce an original piece of work, such as a book or a film, you need to have it copyrighted with the U.S. Copyright Office. When others like what you've done, they may want...

Authors and other creators of various works want to give their creations protection from being infringed upon. Understanding what copyright is, what it protects and when it takes effect, is...

In the eyes of the law, copyright exists from the very moment of creation. By virtue of her craft, the producer of any original literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work has a natural right to...

From the moment of its creation, an original work of music is the intellectual property of its author. Copyright for a piece of music can be granted for both the composition and for specific...

Canadian copyright law is not very different from U.S. copyright law. Both protect original works such as music, art, film and literature. Canadian copyright generally follows Berne convention,...

Copyright laws protect authors of original works from illegal use of their intellectual property. These laws are often misunderstood and commonly violated, sometimes unintentionally. To fully...

The fight between musicians, the recording industry and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks has brought music copyright laws into stark relief. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and...

With the invention of the Internet and the popularity of posting materials for others to view, it became clear that traditional copyright laws weren't always applicable or enforceable on the...

Copyright infringement occurs when someone interferes with your exclusive rights to reproduce your own work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies of your work or to display or perform...

Protecting a work from international copyright infringement is not done by enforcing any international law. There are no international copyrights, making protection from infringement difficult....