Copyright Law Basics

Copyright protection exists from the moment a work is created in a fixed, tangible form of expression. The copyright immediately becomes the author's property who created the work. Only the author, or those he/she gives rights to, can claim copyright. In works made for hire, the employer—not the writer—is the author.copyright-sign-5005639

Ownership in Copyright Law Basics of a book, does not give copyrights.

Duration: If you right it now, you own it until seventy years after your death. Pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is in the Copyright Office),  the copyright is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter. Works prior to 1978 are different. See an attorney.

A copyright notice has three parts:

  1. The symbol © (the letter C in a circle), the word "Copyright" or the abbreviation "Copr."
  2. The year when the work was first created.
  3. The name of the owner of the copyright.

"International" Copyright

"International" copyright that automatically protects a work throughout the world does not exist. Nonetheless, the most widely-adopted copyright treaty, the Berne Convention, states that once a work is protected in one of the Convention member countries, it is protected by copyright in all of them. As of mid-2004, 156 countries, including the U.S., belong to the Berne Convention.

As always, if you have questions about Copyright Law Basics, see an attorney!

Summarized from web content by Dameon Cox

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