Copyrights
Article 1, Section 8, Clause
8 of the United States Constitution gives to
the
United
States 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.”
Title
17 United States Code provides to authors of “original
works of authorship” copyright protection
which vests in the author at the moment the creation
has been “fixed in a tangible medium.” This
protection is available for both published and
unpublished works and gives the owner the exclusive
right (with limitations) to display or perform
the copyrighted work publicly, to reproduce or
copy the copyrighted work, to distribute copies
of the copyrighted work to the pubic and to prepare
derivative works based upon the copyrighted work
(see §106 of the Copyright Act of 1976).
Upon creation, the author/artist should label
the original work with the authors name and a ©,
Copyright or Copr. mark followed by the year of
first publication. This label serves the purpose
of providing notice to the public of the author
of the work, that the work is protected by copyright
and the year the work was first published. As such,
in some circumstances this label may be used to
prevent a potential infringer from claiming “innocent
infringement” by claiming that they did not
realize that the work was protected.
While copyright protection vests in the author
at the moment the creation has been “fixed
in a tangible medium,” federal registration
of the copyright occurs only when the work to be
copyrighted is registered with the United States
Copyright Office (USCO). Federal copyright registration
is recommended and may provide copyright owners
with certain advantages. For example, because proof
of a valid copyright must be shown in order to
sue for damages based on copyright infringement,
presenting a copyright certificate from the USCO
may be used to show proof of ownership. In some
cases, this may entitle the infringed party to
statutory
damages as well as attorney fees and litigation
costs.
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