What is Copyright?

• Copyright is a form of protection provided by U.S. laws to authors of “original works of authorship”. An original work of authorship is a work that is independently created by a human author and possesses at least some minimal degree of creativity.
• Copyright protection in the United States exists automatically from the moment the original work is fixed. A work is “fixed” when it is captured in a sufficiently permanent medium that allows the work to be perceived, reproduced, or communicated for more than a short time. 

What Are the Rights of a Copyright Owner?

Copyright provides the owner of copyright with the exclusive right to:

• Reproduce the work in copies including sound recordings
• Prepare derivative works based upon the work
• Distribute copies or sound recordings of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending
• Perform the work publicly 
• Display the work publicly 
• Perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission if the work is a sound recording
Copyright also provides the owner of copyright the right to authorize others to exercise these
exclusive rights, subject to certain statutory limitations.

What Works Are Protected?

Examples of copyrightable works include:

• Literary works
• Musical works, including any accompanying words
• Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
• Pantomimes and choreographic works
• Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
• Sound recordings, which are works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds
• Architectural works

How long is a work protected by copyright?

For works created on or after January 1, 1978, the term of copyright is the life of the author plus seventy years after the author’s death. If the work is a joint work with multiple authors, the term lasts for seventy years after the last surviving author’s death. For works made for hire and anonymous or pseudonymous works, the duration of copyright is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.

For works created before January 1, 1978, that were not published or registered as of that date, the term of copyright is generally the same as for works created on or after January 1, 1978. The law, however, provides that in no case would the term have expired before December 31, 2002, and if the work was published on or before that date, the term will not expire before December 31, 2047.

For works created before January 1, 1978, that were published or registered before that date, the initial term of copyright was twenty-eight years from the date of publication with notice or from the date of registration. At the end of the initial term, the copyright could be renewed for another sixty-seven years for a total term of protection of up to ninety-five years. To extend copyright into the renewal term, two registrations had to be made before the original term expired: one for the original term and the other for the renewal term. This requirement was eliminated on June 26, 1992, and renewal term registration is now optional.

Information adapted from Circular 1 of the U.S. Copyright Office. Library of Congress.