Handout 1

What Is Copyright?

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. The Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

• To reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords
• To prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work
• To distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public for sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending
• To perform the copyrights work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works
• To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work.

Who can claim copyright

Copyright protection exists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created it. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright.

Who cannot!

A work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment is called a work made for hire. The employer is the owner of the copyright rights in the work unless the employer and employee have agreed otherwise in a written contract.