Copyright

Copyright Basics

Copyright laws provide legal protection for original creative works and for the people who create them. Copyright applies to music, articles that have been published in a journal or newspaper, novels, movies, paintings, photographs, CD-ROMs, video games, plays, sheet music, recorded music performances, software code, sculptures, choreography, and architectural designs, to name just a few. Basically, if it is an original work that exists in a tangible form and has been independently created by the author, it is protected by copyright. This applies even if the author has not formally applied for copyright protection. Copyright is automatic.

Under the copyright act, the owner of a copyrighted work has several exclusive rights:

The right to make copies of the work
The right to sell or otherwise distribute copies of the work
The right to create and/or authorize adaptations of the work
The right to perform a protected work or to display it in public

Copyright laws only protect fixed creative expressions, not the idea behind those expressions. For example, copyright protects the script and distribution rights to the classic Errol Flynn movie "Captain Blood" (1935), but there is no copyright on the basic idea of a pirate movie, otherwise "Pirates of the Caribbean" (2003) would never have been filmed.

Similarly, copyright does not protect facts. It is a fact that the Peace Corps was established by President John F. Kennedy on March 1, 1961. However, the specific way in which an author presents this fact may be copyrighted. This is something particularly important to keep in mind when writing a paper. If you borrow an author's phrases or wording when presenting facts or ideas, then you are violating copyright laws and are guilty of plagiarism.

The Lifespan of a Copyright

You can use a copyrighted work without the permission of its owner if that work has entered the public domain - that is, when the copyright of that work has expired.

All works created or published in the United States prior 1923 are in the public domain.

For works created prior to 1977, the length of the copyright is the life of the author, plus 70 years. An exception to this is if the work was specifically commissioned or created during the course of employment as a condition of that employment (this is called a "work for hire"), or was created or published either anonymously or under a pseudonym. In those cases, the copyright is extended to between 95 and 120 years.

If the work was created, but not actually published, before 1978, then the copyright lasts the life of the author plus 70 years. In this case it is functionally the same as the rule quoted above. However, the key difference for the copyright of unpublished works is that even if the author died over 70 years ago (which would normally put that work into the public domain), the copyright of an unpublished work lasted until December 31, 2002. And if such a work was published between 1978 and December 31, 2002, then the copyright lasts until December 31, 2047.

The "Fair Use" clause is the only exception to the need to secure the owner's permission before making use of their work.

For more information on copyright:

United States Copyright Office, Library of Congress
Copyright Website
10 Big Myths about copyright explained
Stanford University Libraries: Copyright and Fair Use