UNDERSTANDING COPYRIGHTS
The Copyright Law is an Important Protection for Authors and Inventors.
By Ken Tarlow
Copyright literally means that the owner is the only one who has the "right to copy" or authorize copy of his own work.
All unpublished work is protected under common laws from the moment of its creation, but this protection ends when the work is published. It can then be given the protection of a statutory copyright by publishing it with a copyright notice.
The Copyright is a "Bundle of Rights" implicit in the Constitution, Article I, Section 8, "...securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writing and discoveries." The Copyright Law was greatly revised and approved by Congress in 1976, effective January, 1978. The new law includes exceptions to the exclusivity provision with new provisions for some compulsory licensing.
Further it changed the duration of the U.S. Copyright to the author or inventors life, plus 50 years.
Let's briefly examine the copyright concept "Works of Authorship," which must contain at least some intellectual effort and originality. It cannot be copied from works of others. There are seven categories.
1. Literary Works--Works, other than audio visual works, expressed in words, numbers or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia, regardless of the nature of the material objects such as books, periodicals, manuscripts, phonographic records, films, tapes, discs or cards, in which they are embodied.2. Musical Works--This includes any accompanying words.
3. Dramatic Works--This includes any accompanying music.
4. Pantomime and Choreographic Works
5. Pictorial, Graphic and Sculptural Works--Includes "two dimensional and three dimensional works of fine, graphic and applied art, photographs, prints and art reproductions, maps globes, charts, technical drawings, diagrams and models--insofar as their form but not their mechanical or utilitarian aspects are concerned."
6. Motion Pictures or Other Audio Visual Works--Motion pictures are defined as "Audio visual works consisting of a series of related images which, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying sounds, if any." Audio Visual Works are "Works that consist of a series of related images which are intrinsically intended to be shown by the use of machines or devices such as projectors, viewers, electronic equipment, together with accompanying sounds, if any, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as films, or tapes, in which the works are embodied."
7. Sound Recordings--These are "works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audio visual work, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as discs, tapes, or other phonographic records, in which they are embodied."
There is another class of material which is EXCLUDED from copyright (but may qualify for protection under patent or trademark). These are trademarks, ideas, plans, methods, systems, inventions, computing and measuring devices, names titles, short phrases and expressions, general ideas or outlines for radio and television programs, blank forms, slogans and phrases.
It is necessary that your copyright be recorded in the Library of Congress before you institute suit for infringement. You may access the Copyright website online. It is no longer critical to have a Copyright notice on your work, if omitted in error (within certain limits). It can be corrected within five years, however it is not wise to take chances that can be so simply avoided. Put the Copyright notice on everything you publish. It is simply:
* "Copyright" or "©"* Year of first publication
* Name of the "owner of the copyright" in the work
* "All Rights Reserved" may be added
The location of the notice is not specified but is usually in front of most publications.
The above article was excerpted from Ken Tarlow's MIND TO MONEY, a workbook package that can help you develop a new product from the idea stage to the marketplace. MIND TO MONEY may be ordered from the Dream Merchant at $59.95 plus $4.95 CA sales tax and $5 shipping and handling ($69.90 total). Send orders to the Dream Merchant, 2309 Torrance Blvd., Suite 104, Torrance, CA 90501.
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