WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

The U.S. Federal Copyright Law is encompassed in Title 17 of the United States Code. The original law was passed in 1790 and has been revised several times since in an effort to clarify how copyright law applies to advances in technologies such as photocopy machines, VCR's, and computers, which were not foreseen at the time the initial law was passed. The courts have also played an important role in interpreting copyright principles.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Hence, the basic function of copyright is to promote creativity by assigning rights to creators which protect their work while at the same time facilitating public access to the copyrighted works.

WHAT RIGHTS DOES COPYRIGHT GRANT?

Section 106 of Title 17 of the U.S. Code grants to a copyright owner the exclusive right to:

* Reproduce the work (ie-make copies of the work) * Prepare a derivative work based on the copyrighted work (ie-prepare a translation of the work in another language, adapt a book into a screenplay, etc.) * Distribute copies through sale, lease, rental or lending * Publicly perform the work * Publicly display the work

There are exceptions to many of these exclusive rights. For example, the first sale doctrine states that an individual who has purchased a legal copy of a work may then resell or lend that copy. Many exceptions are specific to categories of works, such as the compulsory licensing system used to compensate musical composers for usage of their work. For an understandable general discussion of the protections and exceptions relating to specific categories of works, consult Edwards Samuels' The Illustrated Story of Copyright located in the UNI Reference Collection at KF 2994 S26 2000.

HOW LONG DOES A COPYRIGHT LAST?

The duration of copyright has been altered many times. Under the initial 1790 American Copyright Act, works were granted an initial 14 year term of protection, which could then be renewed for another 14 years for a total of 28 years of protection. The most recent amendment to the copyright duration provision was the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, which grants copyright protection for the life of the author plus 70 years.

See also:

http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm