Copyright is a set of rights provided by the laws of the United States (Title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, audiovisual and certain other works, including software.
This protection is available to both published and unpublished works that are fixed in a tangible medium. Copyright does not protect ideas; it protects the expression of ideas.
The law gives the owner of copyright the following exclusive rights:
The owner of the copyright may transfer all or part of these rights to others. See the page on Author Rights.
Subject to some exceptions described in this guide (including fair use), if a person exercises any of these rights in another’s work without permission, the person may be liable for copyright infringement.
The Copyright Handbook by
This must-have handbook for writers and artists provides every form necessary to protect creative expression under U.S. and international copyright law. With step-by-step instructions, it illustrates how to: -- register a creative work -- transfer copyright ownership -- define and avoid infringement -- maintain electronic publishing rights -- and more All forms come as tear-outs and on CD-ROM.
Copyright Questions and Answers for Information Professionals by
Copyright law is a critical issue for authors, librarians, publishers, and information vendors. It is also a complex area, with many shades of gray. Librarians continually need to seek answers to questions ranging from the reproduction of copyrighted works for library users, through the performance of audiovisual works, to the digitization and display of protected works on library websites. This book presents updated versions of the author's copyright columns published in Against the Grain, the leading journal in acquisitions librarianship since the late 1990s. It is the first volume in the series Charleston Insights in Library, Archival, and Information Sciences. The aim of the Charleston Insights series is to focus on important topics in library and information science, presenting the issues in a relatively jargon-free way that is accessible to all types of information professionals, including librarians, publishers, and vendors, and this goal shapes the pragmatic and accessible tone of the book. The volume is presented in question-and-answer format. The questions are real, submitted by librarians, educators, and other information professionals who have attended the author's copyright law workshops and presentations or submitted them to her by e-mail or telephone. The author has selected the questions and answers that have general applicability. She has then arranged them into logical chapters, each prefaced by a short introduction to the topic. Because it is written in an accessible and clear style, readers may want to review the entire work or they can just access particular chapters or even specific questions as they need them. The volume includes an index to facilitate reference use.
Copyright protection begins as soon as a work is created. Copyright is secured automatically when a work is "fixed in a tangible medium of expression." This means that the work must exist in some physical form for at least some period of time, no matter how brief. Copyright does not protect ideas that are not expressed in tangible form. Written works, photographs, and computer files are all examples of tangible media.
Registration, publication and a copyright notice are no longer legally required in order to have copyright.
There are advantages to giving notice of copyright ownership, however, including putting others on notice of the author’s claim of rights and taking advantage of the availability of certain damages in connection with an infringement claim. A copyright notice includes the symbol, the author’s name and the year.
Registration also provides several advantages. It establishes a public record of the copyright claim, and it is necessary for works of U. S. origin before an infringement suit may be filed in court.
Works for hire are works prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment and certain specially ordered or commissioned works prepared under written agreement. In the case of works made for hire, the employer and not the employee is considered to be the author.
In general, the copyright term for a work created in the United States after 1977 (that is not a work made for hire) is the life of the author plus 70 years. Once the copyright expires, the work passes into the Public Domain.
This guide is your quick reference for copyright questions. It covers broad topics such as fair use and works considered public domain, as well as topics which are a little closer to home in the academic library setting. These include: digital reserves, photocopying, music for podcasting, etc.
Copyright extends far beyond the concerns of plagiarism in in the classroom, which has always been a concern for instructors. Now, in the digital age, plagiarism of papers is just one of many pitfalls to watch out for. Copyright infringement is not simply a matter of violating a school's honor code, but one of actually breaking the law. Librarians and instructors need to be aware of what can and cannot be done in the classroom in order to stay compliant with copyright law.
The information in this guide was originally created by Boston College University Libraries and has been borrowed and modified for this specific institution under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
This guide is designed to provide basic, general information about copyright, and does not constitute legal advice. The links to third party sites in this guide are provided for your convenience. Boston College does not take responsibility for the content of these other sites. If you have a question about a specific copyright issue not addressed by this guide, the Libraries encourage you to seek further advice.