Copy right Basics

What is copy right?

Copyright, is an exclusive legal right, extended to originators, such as authors and inventors, to protect their righting and discoveries. It gives these originators the rights to copy, print, distribute, record literary, film, perform, and/or permit other to do the same (Rothman, (2014). This means a copyright holder (originator) has some exclusive rights to their property, and these rights are protected by the Copyright Law.

When is Copy right automatic? Is a copyright symbol © required for work to be protected under copyright?

These rights of ownership do not have to be displayed for the copyright laws to apply. On the contrary, as soon as content is captures in a fixed format, for instance, by being recorded or written down, it is automatically protected by the copyright law. No publication or registration is required, although using a copyright symbol helps in reminding the public that the work under the copyright law. Properties such as magazines, online articles, books, screenplays, songs, photos, choreography, podcasts, software, and artworks, are all protected by copyright.

What are three things not protected by copyright? Logos and Taglines, are protected by?

On the other hand, not everything is protected by copyright. For instance, data, facts and ideas, are not protected by copyright. Additionally, logos and taglines are also not protected by copyright laws. However, they could be protected by the Trade Mark Law. Other things not protected by the copyright law include anything created by the US government, as well as properties for which the copyright has expired.

What four factors are used to determine whether the copyrighted work is allowed under “fair use”?

Under the fair use Law, any individual using materials does not require the consent from the holder copyright. This is because the law enables the usage of protected material for parody, commentary, education, news reporting and scholarly research. The four factors considered in determining whether the use of protected material is fair use as below. The purpose of use may vary. For instance, if the material is being used for monetary benefit, then it is improbable that it will be considered as fair use. Secondly, the nature of the protected work, for instance, the use of factual material may be factored to be in the bracket of fair use unlike the use of an artwork. Thirdly, an assessment of the amount and substantiality establishes how much of the material was used. In some cases, even a small portion of the material use may not factor as fair use if the section used is the core of the protected work. Finally, Fair Use evaluates the impact of the use of the material in the market. For instance, if the use is likely to lead to financial loss of the copyright holder, then the use is not considered fair use. All four factors must be considered in determining if the use of protected material is fair use.

What is the first sale doctrine?

The First Sale Doctrine authorizes reselling, lending and disposing of the material but does not grant permission to reproducing or performing the material or any further exclusive rights of the protected material.

What is “attribution” as it pertains to copyright?