Copyright

“Copyright” is statutory protection granted to “original works of authorship.” In the United States, copyright has been an important legal issue from the very beginning. In 1787, the U.S. Constitution empowered Congress to enact copyright protection. Three years later, the Copyright Act of 1790 laid out the administrative procedures for registration and enforcement. Since that time, U.S. law has gone through several major revisions in order to broaden the scope of copyright, to change the term of copyright protection, and to address new technologies. The current version of U.S. copyright law was passed by Congress in 1976 and became effective in 1978. From time to time, minor revisions are made as well. One recent example was the passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998, which addressed some of the ownership challenges posed by easy access to digital works on the Internet. Copyright registration is managed by the U.S. Copyright Office, which is part of the Library of Congress. Lots of useful information is available from their Web site, www.copyright.gov. For a handy reference, go to the “Publications” section and download the PDF file for Circular 1, “Copyright Basics.”

Copyright does not cover an idea in and of itself — it covers the expression of it in a fixed or tangible form. The author has the exclusive right to reproduce or sell the work, distribute copies, display the work publicly, perform the work publicly, or prepare derivative works. Each specific use can be transferred outright (assigned) or transferred in a more targeted way (licensed). A transfer of rights can be either exclusive or nonexclusive. Any transfer may be terminated after thirty-five years (except “work-for-hire,” which is discussed in this chapter). Any rights not transferred explicitly remain the property of the owner (see Figure 17.01).