Copyright Myths and Facts

What is copyright?

Copyright law secures for the creator of a creative effort the exclusive right to control who can make copies, or make works derived from the original work.

What is the purpose of copyright?

The purpose of copyright law is to maximize knowledge.  The purpose of copyright law is not to maximize the profits of copyright owners.

Copyright mythology

Myth: You must publish and register a work for it to be copyrighted...

Fact:

 • No publication, registration, or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright

• Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created

How is a copyrightable work created?

A work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy the first time.

What is a "copy?"

"Copies" are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm.

Copyright protection

Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form; that is, it is an incident of the process of authorship.

What can be protected?

Most of the items that you are likely to encounter on the net or anywhere else are eligible for copyright or trademark protection:

Literary, dramatic, and musical works; pantomimes and choreography; pictorial, graphic and sculptural works; audio-visual works; sound recordings; graphics; architectural works; the text of web pages; ASCII text documents; contents of email messages; sound files; graphics files; executable computer program files; logos (companies, sports teams, products, and charities) comic strip characters; faces or images of celebrities; art and photos (from books, magazines, company brochures, greeting cards, newspapers, comic strips, CD-ROMs, and other Web pages, even if altered); single frames, animation sequences, and sound bites from movies, TV, radio, audio CDs, and rented or purchased videos, even if altered).

What cannot be protected?

Ideas; facts; titles; names; short phrases; blank forms

Who owns copyright?

The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created it.

Need more?  

Go to A Crash Course in Copyright from the University of Texas