Copyright Info

[John Minor]

Found this info rummaging around in Government Docs on WWW.

John Minor
University of Illinois
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WHO CAN CLAIM COPYRIGHT

Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in
fixed form; that is, it is an incident of the process of
authorship. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately
becomes the property of the author who created it.  Only the author
or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully
claim copyright.

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created,
and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord
for the first time.  "Copies" are material objects from which a
work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the
aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet
music, film, videotape, or microfilm.  "Phonorecords" are material
objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory
definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes,
CD's, or LP's.  Thus, for example, a song (the "work") can be fixed
in sheet music ("copies") or in phonograph disks ("phonorecords"),
or both.

HOW TO SECURE A COPYRIGHT

Copyright Secured Automatically Upon Creation

The way in which copyright protection is secured under the present
law is frequently misunderstood.  No publication or registration
or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure
copyright (see following NOTE). There are, however, certain
definite advantages to registration.

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created,
and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord
for the first time.  "Copies" are material objects from which a
work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the
aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet
music, film, videotape, or microfilm.  "Phonorecords" are material
objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding, by statutory
definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes,
CD's, or LP's.  Thus, for example, a song (the "work") can be fixed
in sheet music ("copies") or in phonograph disks ("phonorecords"),
or both.

WHAT IS NOT PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

Several categories of material are generally not eligible for
statutory copyright protection. These include among others:

  --  Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of ex-
      pression.  For example:  choreographic works that have not
      been notated or recorded, or improvisational 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 containing no original authorship. For example:
      standard