Copyright: Part 2 – US Copyright Law
June 28, 2008 by Lillie
Table of contents for Copyright
Copyright law varies around the world. Since I live in the US and am not familiar with copyright laws in other countries, this post will cover the basics of US copyright law. I’m a writer, not a lawyer, so don’t rely on anything I say if you have a legal issue over copyright.
My goal is just to give a brief overview of how copyright works for materials written and published in the US today. Work written before January 1, 1978 come under an earlier version of the copyright law, which is quite different.
For more information, visit the US Copyright Office online.
- literary works
- musical works, including any accompanying words
- dramatic works, including any accompanying music
- pantomimes and choreographic works
- pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
- motion pictures and other audiovisual works
- sound recordings
- architectural works
You cannot copyright titles, slogans, logos, standard information such as calendars or height and weight charts, ideas, methods, or discoveries. You can copyright descriptions or explanations of methods and other items that cannot themselves be copyrighted. Some items that cannot be copyrighted (such as logos) can be trademarked.
According to the Copyright Office, “Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is ‘created’ when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time.” If you write a poem on a napkin, you have created the work, and it is automatically covered by copyright. You do not have to put the copyright symbol on it. You do not have register it. You do not have to write “copyright” on it.
Of course, if anyone challenges your copyright, you must be able to prove that you created the work. That’s why many writers mail a copy of their manuscript to themselves sealed and date-stamped by the Post Office. The writers keep the unopened package to use as evidence in case their copyright is ever challenged.
Registering a publication with the Copyright Office makes it easier to defend copyright since the registration itself is a public record of the copyright claim and is evidence in your favor if you are ever involved in an infringement lawsuit. Registration is voluntary unless you sue for infringement. You must register before suing, and the amount of damages you can receive in a court case is greater if you register copyright within three months of publication. Copyright registration makes sense for books and other works that have a large income potential. It isn’t feasible for blog posts and short articles because of the time and expense involved.
“Mandatory deposit” is a stipulation of the copyright law that two copies of all “publications” be deposited with the Copyright Office for the Library of Congress, whether or not the copyright is registered. There are a number of exemptions, but essentially “publications” are works offered for sale to the general public. If you publish an e-book for sale, you are required to provide two copies for the Library of Congress. If you publish an e-book to give away on your Web site, you are not subject to mandatory deposit.
Copyright gives the authors of “original works of authorship” the right to control how their work is used. The author is the person who created the work unless it was work for hire. If the work was written for hire, the employer is considered to be the author and copyright owner.
Copyright extends for the life of the author plus 70 years. Work-for-hire copyright lasts 95 years from creation or 120 years from publication, whichever is shorter.
Next, we’ll talk about what constitutes “fair use” of copyrighted material.
It’s interesting to know that you dont have to put the copyright symbol on something anymore for it to be copyrighted. I remember when I started writing years ago that we were told we had to (and I do mean years). Although I never would have thought to send myself a copy of the work in an envelope just in case. I will have to start doing that.
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Diane,
I’m going to mention in a future post that using the copyright symbol is still a good idea in some cases even if it’s not required.
There’s so much confusion around this subject it’s unbelievable. And with the growth in popularity of blogging I really think the laws need tidying up. And it gets even more complicated when you consider the global nature of the web.
Dan
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Dan,
I didn’t begin to address international copyright laws because I don’t know enough about it to even begin. I only hope that this will encourage writers and Internet users in other countries to become familiar with the laws in their own countries.
Since the Internet is global, a global copyright makes sense. But as difficult as it is to get legislators to agree on a law in any country, it would probably be impossible to get international agreement on copyright online.
That have allways been a problem, not long ago some principal was caught in copying a speech, telling the same story again, when he was confronted with he said “It was such a great speech, and I agree 100% with the guy who wrote it” – ????????
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Julie,
That’s why I’m encouraging everyone to be diligent in protecting copyright. We won’t ever stop it completely but perhaps we can slow content theft down a little if people are more aware of what copyright means.
One thing you can also do is to mail yourself an original of text documents of work and leave them sealed when you receive them. In the event you ever need to show you created it you will have an original sealed and postmarked when the created it and mailed it to yourself.
Britt,
Thanks for the suggestion. I included this tip in another installment in this series, but it bears repeating.
?n my country (turkey) , copyright rules are not important
, especially at the web..!
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The differences in copyright laws among different countries makes it very difficult to know what you can and can’t do online. Many countries have agreements to honor each other’s copyright laws. I didn’t attempt to get into international copyright in these posts because I don’t know enough to even begin to talk about it.
[...] US Copyright Law [...]
What if you pay someone to film something for you, you own the rights…right?
Jay,
I’m not an attorney, and I think you are associated with a law firm as a writer or in some capacity. In a specific situation, you need to get legal advice.
In general, if you hire someone to film something, the project would be considered work for hire, and the copyright would be retained by the person doing the hiring (or the original author if the filmmaking company just has rights granted by the copyright owner). To be on the safe side, I would have both parties sign an agreement acknowledging that the filming is work for hire.
I responded to all comments when they were originally posted, but when I moved my blog, nested comments (which included my replies) were lost.