It's the Law

The first question many people may ask is what exactly is copy right and what is necessary to have a work copyrighted? First thing first, copyright is defined as “The right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship.” Notice the phrase “by law.” The law that protects ownership on a copyrighted material is Title 17 of the U.S. Code. This breaks down just about every thing you need to know about U.S. copy right. Click here to view the U.S. Official title 17 site! Next, to claim ownership or have something copyrighted there are three requirements. The first is fixation. This occurs the minute a picture is taken, a lyric is recorded, a scene is shot or a brush stroke is painted. Fixation is simply the medium the work of art takes (movie, painting, song ect.) Next comes originality. This meant he work must be original to its producer. It can’t replicate something that has already been done, or even imitate it. It must be purely the work of the artist creating it. Finally there is minimal creativity. This means that it must be something that took at least some degree of talent or creativity. This prevents everyone from copyrighting, every picture they have ever drawn from pre-school up.
So now we know what copyright is and what is required to claim copyright on a material. Now lets say we have something copyrighted to our name. What entitlements do we have? These rights can be found in section 106 of the copyright law. Here is a list of a few rights you have as the owner of a copyrighted work. You first have the exclusive rights regarding what happens to it. All authorization must come from you. Next you can reproduce it without any reproductions. You can decide if you want the work to be available to the public either by sale or by if you would like to rent/lease it to a museum or other place of interest. You may personally perform or display the work in public or extent permission for someone else to. So as the holder of a copyrighted material you have a lot of different options or choices on how to use your material.
Now as many of us know, copyright on a material does not last forever, and ever. There are time restraints on them. The laws regarding the time length of a copyrighted material before entering the pubic domain have been changed frequently over the last 100 years and can be very confusing. Lets keep it simple and start with a work of art first published in the U.S. (This would be if you went out today and got a picture you took copyrighted) This copyright would hold for seventy years after your (the authors) death. Now what about those beautiful poems we come across that have unknown authors. Did you know that have a copyright? For works of art that are never published or registered have a copyright period of 120 years after creation. This can of course get complicated it you don’t know the exact date, but in fact there is a law protecting these works as well. Click here to see a chart on length of copyright and conditions (you must click on the blue link on the page this takes you to for the chart to pull up!)
So now you have some basic information on what copyright is, how to obtain it and the duration you will have it for. Remember that it is important to be honest and give credit where credit is due. Be sure to always site your sources in research paper, avoid illegal downloading and printing off picture you don’t hold the rights to. There are severe punishments for pirating and plagiarizing. They could get you kick out of school or land you in prison. Think first, and be honest!