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. This protection is
available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act
generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others
to do the following:
To reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
To prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
To distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work
to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
To perform the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary,
musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other
audiovisual works;
To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of 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
In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work
publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
In addition, certain authors of works of visual art have
the rights of attribution and integrity as described in section 106A of the 1976
Copyright Act.
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright
code to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope.
Sections 107 through 120 of the 1976 Copyright Act establish limitations on these
rights. In some cases, these limitations are specified exemptions from copyright
liability. One major limitation is the doctrine of "fair use," which is given a
statutory basis in section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act. In other instances, the
limitation takes the form of a "compulsory license" under which certain limited
uses of copyrighted works are permitted upon payment of specified royalties and
compliance with statutory conditions.
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