Copyright Law: About Copyright

Copyright protects original works of authorship.  It includes the following types of works:

• literary
• dramatic
• music
• visual art
• certain other intellectual works.

Both published and unpublished works can be copyrighted.  A copyright allows the author the exclusive right to do the following:

• reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords
• prepare derivative works based upon the work
• distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale,rental, lease or lending.
• perform the work publicly
• display the work publicly

It is illegal for anyone to infringe upon the author's copyright unless given permission.

For more information about the basics of copyright law, read Circular 1 from the Copyright Office:

The following cannot be copyrighted:

• ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, and such as distinguished from description, explanation or illustration.
• works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression, such as improvised speeches or unrecorded performances.
• titles, names, short phrases and slogans, familiar symbols or designs, mere variations of typographical ornamentation, lists of ingredients
• works that consist entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship such as standard calendars, lists from public documents, or height and weight charts.