In 1988 the United States, long a holdout, finally joined, and by the early 21st century more than 140 countries were party to the convention. Under § 107, the exclusive rights of the copyright owner are subject to limitation by the doctrine of “fair use.” Fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research is not copyright infringement. To determine whether a particular use qualifies as fair use, courts apply the multi-factor balancing test from § 107. Copyright enforcement is easier when the plaintiff has registered the copyright shortly after its creation and when clear documentation of all other relevant information (i.e., a licensing agreement) exists.
A copyright owner may bring a copyright infringement lawsuit in federal court. Federal courts have exclusive subject-matter jurisdiction over copyright infringement cases.75 That is, an infringement case may not be brought in state courts. The copyright systems of most other countries are similar to that of the United States, in part because of the harmonizing effect of the Berne Convention and in part because all member countries of the World Trade Organization are now obliged to establish minimum levels of copyright protection.
Under § 102, copyright protection exists in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. A plaintiff establishes ownership by authorship (by the plaintiff itself or by someone who assigned rights to the plaintiff) of (1) an original work of authorship that is (2) fixed in a tangible medium (e.g. a book, musical recording, etc.). To bring a copyright infringement lawsuit, a copyright holder must establish ownership of a valid copyright and the copying of constituent elements of the work that are original.76 The copyright owner must also establish both (a) actual copying and (b) improper appropriation of the work.
Accessible copies
Copyright protection is not indefinite – exclusive rights are granted to creators for only a limited period of time. The duration of copyright protection depends on a variety of factors, including who created the work and whether it was published. However, in general, copyright protection will exist during the creator’s lifetime and then for an additional 70 years. The exception is for materials put to work under the “fair use rule.” This rule recognizes that society can often benefit from the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials when the purpose of the use serves the ends of scholarship, education or an informed public. For example, scholars must be free to quote from their research resources in order to comment on the material.
- If the original author of the copyrighted material is a corporation, the copyright protection period is 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years, whichever expires first.
- The international minimum standard for the protection of copyright, as set forth in the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement, is the life of the author plus another 50 years.
- It recognized that authors should be the primary beneficiaries of copyright law and established the idea that such copyrights should have only limited duration (then set at 28 years), after which works would pass into the public domain.
- A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time.12345 The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form.
- You might be able to recoup lost income from someone using your copyrighted material without your permission as well.
For that purpose, ownership in copyright includes exclusive licenses of rights. Thus exclusive licenses, to be effective, must be granted in a written instrument signed by the grantor. A simple document that identifies the work involved and the rights being granted is sufficient. Non-exclusive grants (often called non-exclusive licenses) need not be in writing under US law.
Literary Works
Legislatures and courts in some countries have attempted to adapt copyright law to meet the challenges presented by technological advances. In most instances those adjustments have involved strengthening the entitlements of copyright owners. In 1998, for example, the United States passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which expanded owners’ control over digital a copyright protects an forms of their creations and penalized persons who sought to evade technological shields (such as encryption) for copyrighted material. One effect of such legislation was that consumers’ opportunities to engage in activities that previously would have been considered “fair uses” were curtailed significantly. The ruling enhanced the protections available to the originators of open-source software, which allows readers to view its programming or source code, improve it, then redistribute the resulting software in its modified form.
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Copyright is automatically granted to the author of an original work (that otherwise meets the basic copyright requirements, discussed above). However, registration amplifies a copyright holder’s rights in a number of ways. Registration, or refusal of registration,42 is required before a lawsuit can be filed, and registration creates the possibility for enhanced “statutory” damages. In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work. Copyright law does not protect ideas or concepts; it only protects the way these are expressed in a particular work.
The 1976 legislation substantially extended the duration of copyright in the United States. The general term of copyright protection was established as the life of the author plus 70 years. For anonymous works, pseudonymous works, and works made for hire, the term of copyright protection was set at 95 years from first publication or 120 years from the date of creation of the work, whichever was shorter. Copyright developed out of the same system as royal patent grants, by which certain authors and printers were given the exclusive right to publish books and other materials. The purpose of such grants was not to protect authors’ or publishers’ rights but to raise government revenue and to give the government control over the contents of publication.
