Intellectual Property

Copyright

The first copyright law was enacted in China in 1068. The concept and protection of copyright developed further in Europe beginning in the 16th century (for example, the Statute of Anne, 1710, in England) and was embodied in the U.S. Constitution in 1787. The writers of that document empowered Congress “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.” In addition to promoting the progress of science (i.e., knowledge), the rationale for copyright was economic: writers needed to have exclusive rights to their works for a time in order to make a living. That time, originally 14 years, has been extended in the United States over the years to the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years. International treaties, such as the 1994 World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), have harmonized the laws of different jurisdictions.

Copyright applies to many types of creative works, once they are fixed in a tangible medium, including written materials, sound recordings, and dramatic, musical, pictorial, graphic, architectural, choreographic, and audiovisual works. Computer software and works stored in any printed or electronic medium, including CD-ROMs and Web sites, are also protected by copyright.

Copyright protection does not extend to ideas, facts, principles, or business processes or systems. Copyright covers a particular expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. Similarly, titles, short phrases, slogans, domain names, and lists of contents are not subject to copyright. Copyright implies an element of creativity: hence, for example, the compiler of an alphabetical list of names with telephone numbers cannot claim copyright in the list. Contrast bibliographies that involve a creative selection or arrangement of facts; such works may be protected.

Copyright vests automatically in a work upon its fixation. In other words, there is no need to “copyright” a work. Furthermore, when the United States became a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1988, effective in 1989, the U.S. government amended the Copyright Act of 1976 to provide that copyright notice is no longer required. Individual authors and organizations that wish to make clear their claim to copyright in a work, however, are still encouraged to use a copyright notice (which includes the copyright symbol, author's or organization's name, and year of publication). Registration of the work with the national copyright office, although optional, also provides an additional measure of protection. In the United States, a copyright owner may not sue for copyright infringement without such prior registration.

The owners of a copyright, whether they are individuals or organizations, hold a bundle of exclusive rights in a work: to (1) reproduce it, (2) prepare derivative works, (3) distribute copies by sale or rental, (4) perform it, (5) display it publicly, and (6) perform a sound recording by digital audio transmission. A derivative work is an adaptation or transformation of an original copyrighted work; derivatives may be translations, abridgments, motion pictures, dramatizations, or art reproductions. Copyright infringement is the violation of any of these rights, regardless of whether the infringer has acknowledged the source.

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