Copyright: Copyright Essentials

The purpose of copyright, as written in the U.S. Constitution, is:

“To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries” Copyright Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 8)

These exclusive rights are often referred to as a "bundle of rights." They are enumerated in Section 106, Title 17 of the United States Code:

Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:

(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

(5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and

(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

Title 17 also sets many exceptions to these rights in sections 107-122. This allows for a balance between the rights of the author and the right of society at large to have access to the work. See more about the exceptions that allow for accessing and using copyrighted works in the tab Sharing and Re-Use.

• Copyright begins at the moment of creation when a work is fixed in a tangible form. You do not need to register for it, though you can register with the U.S. Copyright Office. Copyright also expires. There are many rules that determine the duration of copyright.
• The author or creator is the copyright owner unless the copyright is transferred through a written agreement.
• An employer may be the copyright owner of a work done for hire.
• An author may transfer some of the "bundle of rights" under copyright to a publisher while still retaining other rights.
• An author who has transferred copyright to a publisher without reserving any rights must ask the publisher for permission to reuse, distribute, reproduce, or publicly display works they have authored.
• Copyright does not cover ideas or facts, only the form or work in which they are expressed.