Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed. Copyright protects original works of authorship, while a patent protects inventions or discoveries. Ideas and discoveries are not protected by the copyright law, although the way in which they are expressed may be. A trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, or designs identifying the source of the goods or services of one party and distinguishing them from those of others.
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created.
Congress enacted the first federal copyright law in May , and the first work was registered within two weeks. Originally, claims were recorded by clerks of U.
Not until were copyright functions centralized in the Library of Congress under the direction of then Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford. The Copyright Office became a separate department of the Library of Congress in , and Thorvald Solberg was appointed the first Register of Copyrights. Today the Copyright Office is an important service unit of the Library of Congress. With public offices located at Independence Avenue, S. The Office yearly registers half a million claims to copyright, records more than 11, documents containing hundreds of thousands of titles, and collects for later distribution to copyright holders a quarter of a billion dollars in cable television, satellite carrier, and Audio Home Recording Act compulsory license funds.
Since , the Copyright Office has registered more than 33,, claims to copyright and mask works and provided many millions of deposits including books, serials, motion pictures, music, sound recordings, maps, prints, pictures, and computer works to the collections of the Library of Congress. The mission of the Copyright Office is to promote creativity by administering and sustaining an effective national copyright system.
While the purpose of the copyright system has always been to promote creativity in society, the functions of the Copyright Office have grown to include the following:.
The Copyright Office is headed by the Register of Copyrights. Assisting the Register are the general counsel, the associate register for registration and recordation, and the associate register for policy and international affairs, who provide legal advice and counsel to the Register.
The chief operating officer coordinates policy and congressional relations and represents the Register of Copyrights in a wide range of management, operational, information technology, policy, and legislative issues.
The Copyright Office examines all applications and deposits presented for the registration of original and renewal copyright claims to determine their acceptability for registration under the provisions of the copyright law and Copyright Office regulations.
The Office also records documents related to copyright ownership. In addition, the Office examines claims to mask work protection filed under the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of and claims in vessel hull designs filed under the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act.
The Office creates and provides public records of all deposits, registrations, recordations, and other actions. In addition, the Office maintains a directory of service provider agents for notification of claims of infringement as required by section c of the Copyright Act. The Copyright Office is responsible for using and enforcing the mandatory deposit requirement of the Copyright Act of and Copyright Office regulations to acquire works needed for the collections of the Library of Congress.
The law requires that two copies of the best edition of every copyrightable work published in the United States be sent to the Copyright Office within three months of publication, whether or not the work is registered. The Copyright Office is in charge of administering compulsory and statutory licenses. Compulsory licenses are issued for public performances of sound recordings by means of a digital audio transmission; for making and distributing phonorecords; for public performances on coin-operated phonorecord players; and for the use of certain works in connection with noncommercial broadcasting.
Statutory licenses are issued for secondary transmissions by cable systems; for making ephemeral recordings; for secondary transmissions by satellite carriers for private home viewing; and for secondary transmissions by satellite carriers for local retransmissions.
A statutory obligation exists for distribution of digital audio recording devices or media. After deducting its full operating costs, the Office invests the balance in interest-bearing securities with the U. Treasury for later distribution to copyright owners. The Office also maintains records of all documents related to copyright ownership that are submitted for recordation.
Containing nearly 45 million individual cards, the copyright card catalog housed in the James Madison Memorial Building is an index to copyright registrations in the United States from through The copyright card catalog, together with post automated files, provides an index to copyright registrations in the United States from to the present. A large part of the literary, musical, artistic, and scientific production of the United States and of many foreign countries is recorded in these files.
They are an important supplement to the main catalog of the Library of Congress as a research tool. Other records that supplement the copyright card catalog include the Catalog of Copyright Entries , which is, in effect, the copyright card catalog published in book form from July 1, , through and in microfiche from through These records from forward are available for searching over the Internet at www. Additionally, approximately , copyright registrations from through were registered in the office of the clerk of each U.
Most of these records are available on microfilm in the Copyright Office. Researchers may investigate the ownership of a copyright by examining the assignment and related documents index and the online post records and may obtain copies of original applications and documents for a fee.
The Copyright Office maintains public records of transactions related to the compulsory licenses it administers, including the secondary transmission of copyrighted works on cable television systems and by satellite carriers for private home viewing; the making and distributing of phonorecords; the use of certain works in connection with noncommercial broadcasting; public performance of copyrighted music on jukeboxes from ; and initial notices of distribution filed by importers or manufacturers of digital audio recording devices or media.
The Office provides copyright policy advice to Congress. At the request of Congress, the Copyright Office advises and assists the Congress in the development of national and international copyright policy; drafts legislation; and prepares technical studies on copyright-related matters. The Copyright Office works with other U. Trade Representative in negotiating with foreign countries to improve the copyright protection afforded U.
The Copyright Office provides public information and reference services concerning copyrights and recorded documents. It responds to all copyright information and reference requests from the public; provides assistance in registering online claims to copyright; produces and supplies Copyright Office forms and publications; furnishes search reports based on Copyright Office records; prepares certifications and other legal documents; provides for the inspection of works submitted for copyright registration; prepares authorized reproductions of works submitted for registration; and preserves, maintains, and services copyright-related records, including the deposits registered.
The public may visit the Copyright Public Information Office in the Madison Building or call or Recorded information on copyright is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Information specialists are on duty to answer questions in person or by phone or email from A. The Copyright Office Forms and Publications Hotline number, , is available 24 hours a day to accept requests for specific registration application forms and for any of the large number of informational circulars published by the Copyright Office.
Most of the information that the Copyright Office makes available on paper is also available for viewing and downloading from the extensive Copyright Office website at www. In addition, Copyright Office catalog files of copyright registrations from forward may be examined online through the website.
The public can keep up on developments in the Copyright Office by subscribing to NewsNet , a free electronic mailing list that issues periodic email messages to alert subscribers to hearings, deadlines for comments, new and proposed regulations, new publications, and other copyright-related subjects of interest.
Subscribe on the Copyright Office website. For a fee, members of the public may obtain additional certificates of registration and certified copies of Office records. For instance, have you ever put an image or a video to a website, only for it to have been brought down because of copyright issues?
Copyright issues include Copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is using works protected by copyright law without prior permission, breaching certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work.
With the internet era going on, anything you take off the web is copyrighted. Just because it does not have a mark on itself does not mean it is not an original piece of work. This will prove to be helpful when you will be able to distinguish plagiarism from authentic copying. If someone writes something from your work but gives due credit to you, you can not put him under the scanner.
You must also have the ability to examine what all copyright does not protect. Hence, knowledge of the law is required if you want to safeguard your work properly. Although copyright does not protects the underlying idea but fictional characters, storyline and the likes are guarded. Thus, the bulb of creativity must glow the brightest.
Copyright safeguards your creative work, trademark gives you exclusive right over a logo, symbol or a name, and patent excludes others from manufacturing or trading an invention.
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