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  Copy Right, Copy Sense

 

References:

Bellsouth vs. Donnelley

Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony

Copyright CodeA Linked Index

Feist Publications vs. Rural Telephone

Peter Veeck versus Southern Building Code Congress International Inc.,

Publications International  v. Meredith Corporation

Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U.S. 82 (1879)

U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8

Information on this site cannot be considered legal advice.  If you need legal advice on copyright, please consult an attorney or refer to one or more of the sponsor links on the right side of the page. Another place you might look is the US Copyright Office web site.

The copyright information on this site applies to U.S. Copyright, unless otherwise stated.

What Copyright Protects

17 USC Sec. 102 - Copyright protection applies to original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:

  • 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; and

  • architectural works.

  In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

  Originality is a Requirement

  Originality is a constitutional requirement. (Feist)

  In two late 19th century decisions, the Supreme Court defined the terms authors and writings. In doing so, the Court made it absolutely clear that both terms presumed a degree of originality. In one case, the Court determined that for a work to be classified "under the head of writings of authors, originality is required" and that "the writings which are to be protected are the fruits of intellectual labor, embodied in the form of books, prints, engravings, and the like."  In another case, the Court defined the term "author," as far as constitutional requirements, to mean "he to whom anything owes its origin; originator; maker." The court further described copyright as being limited to "original intellectual conceptions of the author," and stressed that an author accusing another of infringement is required to prove "the existence of those facts of originality, of intellectual production, of thought, and conception.”

Copy Right, Copy Sense Home

Copyright Articles:

What is Copyright?

My Copyright Infringement

How to Deal With Online Media Pirates

Copyright Fundamentals for Genealogy

My Copyright was Infringed!

What is NOT protected by copyright?

Copyright Claims That Just Ain't So

 

Copyright Concepts:

Authors Labor

Authors Rights

Civil or Criminal?

Compilations

Constitutionally

Copyright Facts

Copyright Notice

Duration

Electronic Mail

Fair Use

Fair Use and the DMCA

Foreign Works

From Creation

Genealogy

Inadvertent Infringement

Infringement

Infringement Remedies

Licenses and Notices

Not Everything Protected

Originality

Ownership

Permissions

Plagiarism

Pre-planning

Public Domain

Purpose of Copyright

Really Copyrighted?

U.S. Government Works

What's Protected -

Who Owns the Law? -

Work Place Training

 

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© 2005, Michael Goad