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You are here: Home: >> Public: >> Intellectual Property Law: >> Copyright Law

is a type of protection given by United States law to the creators of original literary works, movies, musical works, sound recordings, paintings, photographs, software, live performances, and television or sound broadcasts. Copyright protects works that are set in a definite form of expression. Examples of works in a definite form are a computer program saved to disk, a recorded song, or a story on paper.

Copyright protection extends to both published and unpublished works. Under The Copyright Act, the owner of a copyright has the right to:

  • Prepare other works based upon the work (“”)
  • Reproduce the Work
  • Sell or lease his or her work
  • Publicly perform or display the work
  • Display the copyrighted work publicly

In most cases only the author of a work can collect copyright protection. The creator obtains the copyright after the work is completed in a fixed form. Unless an agreement is made in advance, joint authors of a work are co-owners of the works copyright.

Why Claiming a Copyright for Your Work is Important

  • A copyright gives you the exclusive right to reproduce or transform the work.
  • You are the only person who can display or perform your work publicly unless permission is given.
  • You are the only person who can commercially distribute your work.
  • You can sell your right to control over the copyrighted work while maintaining the right to prepare other works based on the derivative work.
  • protects your rights in the twenty foreign countries that still condition legal protection on public notice that the rights have been claimed.
  • The Library of Congress will catalog your work.
  • Registering your work allows you to sue for copyright infringement or to obtain a court order forcing someone to stop using your work.


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