Copyright is part of the United States (title
17, U.S. Code) and international law that grants rights and protection
to authors and developers of creative works. Among the rights granted
are the rights to:
-
reproduce the work;
-
prepare derivative works based upon the work;
-
distribute copies of the work to the public perform the work publicly,
-
display the copyrighted work publicly,
-
perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission and,
-
assign these rights to others.
It should be clear that copyright only protects works that are “fixed
in a tangible form of expression.” Copyright does not protect ideas
or processes (although processes can be patented).
To make use of copyright protected material without the consent of
the author is a violation of the law. The exceptions to this are works
that have passed into the public domain (over 70 years old) and works
used in the manner prescribed under the Fair Use
part of the copyright law.
For additional information on Copyright Basics, visit the U.S.
Copyright Office, Copyright Basics Web site.