Attorney Protection of Your Copyrights

		Basic Facts about Copyrights
	What is a Copyright?
		Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. Protection is available to both published and unpublished works.
	What are the Exclusive Copyright rights?
		The Copyright Act generally gives the owner of a copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following: To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords; To prepare derivative works based upon the work; To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending; To perform the work publicly (literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works); To display the copyrighted work publicly ( literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work); and To perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission (sound recordings).
	How are trademarks, copyrights and patents different?
		Trademarks protect the symbols (names) by which goods and services are efficiently sold in the marketplace. Copyrights protect the expression of ideas in artistic and literary works. Copyrights do not protect the underlying idea. Patents protect new, useful and non-obvious inventions
	Who owns the Copyright?
		A copyright exists a soon as the work is fixed in a tangible medium. The work automatically becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author can claim ownership of the copyrighted work.
	What is Work Made For Hire?
		A work is considered a "work made for hire" if it is created by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or is a a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, part of an audiovisual work, a translation of an existing work, a compilation, tests, sound recordings, and the like. If the work falls into any of these exceptions, then the work, by law, automatically is owned by the employer (hiring party). The basic rule is: in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, he who creates owns unless made in the course of employment or one of the exceptions noted above.
	What types of works are protected by Copyright?
		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; and architectural works
	What is not protected by Copyright?
		Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include: Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression; Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs (See, Trademarks); Variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration (See, Patents) Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship
	How do you secure a Copyright?
		First, it is important to understand that as soon as the copyright is "fixed", it exists. Second, you should register your copyright as early as possible. Under United States law, provided that a work is registered within three (3) months of the first publication, you can obtain statutory damages. I note that in the vast majority of copyright infringement cases that we have dealt with, if the copyright registration was obtained within the statutory period, the case usually settles very quickly, provided that we can prove copying of the material.
	Do I need to use a Copyright Notice?
		No. Under amendments to the Copyright Act in 1989, it is no longer necessary to use a copyright notice. However, you should still use a copyright notice "©" Year of creation, Copyright Owner, City, State - All Rights Reserved. Note that for Sound recordings, the "©" is substituted with a letter P in a circle.