On January 1, 1978, a new copyright statute came into effect in the United States. Some highlights from the law are given here. For specific details about the law or to gain copies of the statute and regulations, send a specific written request to the following: Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20559.

Copyright Protection

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of original works of authorship including photographs. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. The Copyright Act generally gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

To reproduce the copyrighted work

To prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work

To distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending

To display the copyrighted work publicly in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other photographic work

It is illegal for anyone to violate the rights provided to an owner of a copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. The Copyright Act establishes limitations on these rights. In some cases, these limitations are specified exemptions from copyright liability. Generally however, it is unlawful to reproduce, without written consent of the copyright owner, any material bearing a notice of copyright. The guiding rule in copying is to secure written permission from the copyright owner before starting work

What Is Protected

Copyright protection exists for original works of authorship when they become fixed in a tangible form of expression. The fixation does not need to be directly perceptible, so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following categories:

Literary works

Musical works, including any accompanying words

Dramatic works, including any accompanying music

Pantomimes and choreographic works

Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works

Motion pictures and other imaging works and sound recordings

This list is illustrative and is not inclusive of the categories of copyrightable works. These categories should be viewed quite broadly.

What Is Not Protected

Several categories of material are generally not eligible for statutory copyright protection. Among others include the following:

Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression

Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents

Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration

Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship; for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rules, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources