Copyrights

Unlike patents and trademarks that are administered by the USPTO, copyrights are administered by the Library of Congress. However, like patents and trademarks, a copyright gives its creator the exclusive right to their original work for a limited time. “A copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of ‘original works of authorship’ including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished.” Specifically, a copyright gives an owner “the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly, or to display the copyrighted work publicly.”^[1]

How long a copyright lasts has been changed by Congress a few times over the years. Now, a copyrighted work created after January 1, 1978, is protected from when it was created and fixed into “a tangible medium of expression” for the length of the author’s life plus 70 years. The copyright duration for works owned by a corporation (“works made for hire”) is 95 years from first publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.^[2] Technically, once a copyright expires, the work is referred to as being in the public domain. Public domain works can be used without obtaining permission or paying a fee.

The copyright protection exists even before you register your copyright. You don’t have to register a copyright with the Library of Congress for the copyright to exist. But it does have to be registered if you want to start a lawsuit against someone who uses your work without permission.^[3] In contrast, you cannot have a patent or trademark without going through the application and registration process with the USPTO.