Copyright Basics

What is Copyright?

Copyright law gives authors certain rights to control use of their works. It also grants users of copyrighted works the rights to use those works without permission in certain circumstances. Authors’ rights and users’ rights are in tension, but the balance between them helps achieve the constitutional purpose of copyright law.

Constitutional Basis

The Constitution gives Congress the power

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries

The Copyright Act, 17 USC 101 et seq, provides the copyright laws of the United States.

What’s Covered?

Under U.S. law, copyright-eligible works are “original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” Three criteria must be satisfied:

Original: To qualify as original, the work must be created independently and must have “at least a modicum” of creativity.
Authorship: Works of authorship include literary works, musical works, dramatic works, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, motion pictures and other audiovisual works and sound recordings, as well as other types of creative works including computer programs, architectural works, and compilations and derivative works. There must be a human author – works created solely by animals or supernatural beings are not eligible.
Fixed: A work must also be “fixed in a tangible medium of expression” by or under the authorization of the author. Fixation is writing or otherwise recording copyrightable expression, whether it is on paper or a hard drive or in some other tangible form like painting or sculpture. Unfixed works like dance and music performances are not copyrightable (unless they are fixed, for example with videorecording).

What’s Not Covered

US copyright law does not protect “any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery.” That means slogans, names, short names, methods, systems, processes, recipes, and procedures are not copyrightable.

The Copyright Rights

Copyright law grants authors six exclusive rights. Although these rights are called “exclusive,” they are limited by the rights of users.

1. to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

2. to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

3. 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;

4. in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

5. 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, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and

6. in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

Who Holds the Copyright?

The initial copyright holder is either the person (or people) who actually created the work or, in some cases, that person’s employer. That initial copyright holder can then transfer or license copyright to others.

Fair Use and User’s Rights

Fair use allows certain uses of copyrighted materials without permission. It is one of many user’s rights in U.S. law. Others include the classroom use provision, the TEACH Act, and the library and archives provision (Section 108). Please visit our Fair Use page for further details.

Copyright Duration and the Public Domain

Works in the public domain aren’t protected by copyright. The public domain includes works in which the copyright has expired, most works published by the U.S. federal government (not necessarily state governments), and works dedicated to the public domain.

Under current U.S. law, copyright starts the moment a work is fixed and lasts until 70 years after the death of the author. For works made for hire the duration of the copyright is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first.

Please visit our Public Domain page for further details.

Additional Resources

This work is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. It incorporates materials from the University of Michigan Library Research Guide on Copyright Basics and The Ohio State University Copyright Services Guide, both of which are available under the same CC-BY license.