Having a basic understanding of how the copyright law works is helpful as you consider using the copyrighted works of others. Keep in mind the perspective of both the owner and use of copyrighted material, the golden rule of copyright, “if you were the copyright owner, would you see the proposed use as acceptable use and not expect to be asked for permission?”
Merely owning a book, CD, DVD, VHS, poster, painting, or other product does not give you the right to make copies, distribute copies, make derivatives or publicly perform or display that material. You have only purchased the right to own your personal physical copy. Making a copy to sell, for a friend, or for further distribution or for various other uses may not be within your rights.
Navigating trademarked and copyrighted materials can be tricky. That’s why we’ve created our Intellectual Property Guide, to help you cover your media use bases.
Copyright protection is available for an author/creator if three requirements are met:
1. Fixation—the work exists in a medium from which the author’s expression can be read, seen, or heard, either directly or by the aid of a machine.
2. Originality—the work owes its origin and independent creation to an author.
3. Minimal creativity—the work is the product of at least a minimal level of creativity.
- 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 audiovisual works
- Sound recordings
- Architectural works
- Reproduce the work
- Prepare derivative works based upon the work
- Distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental lease, or lending
- Perform the work publicly
- Display the copyrighted work publicly
- Perform the work publicly by means of digital audio transmission, in the case of sound recordings
- Certain rights of attribution and integrity, in the case of works of visual art
The copyright owner is the person or entity who owns the exclusive rights mentioned above. The copyright owner could be the author, the publisher, or another person or entity having legal ownership of one or more of the exclusive rights described above.
Unprotected Materials
Copyright protection does not extend to the following, therefore permission is not required for you to use them:
- Works for which the copyright has expired.
- Works federal government employees produced within the scope of their employment.
- Works clearly and explicitly donated to the public domain.
- Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or spontaneous speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded).
- 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 contains no original authorship (for example, standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources).