Copyrights What is a Copyright?

Copyrights
What is a Copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of
“original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other
intellectual works.
Copyright protection is available to both published and unpublished works.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 work in copies or phonorecords;
• To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
• To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other
transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
• To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and
choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual
works;
• To display the 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.