What are the five rights granted by copyright law? Are these rights granted for all copyrightable works?
2006/// Filed in: Copyright Law
The Copyright Act of 1976 (Section 106) grants the author of the work or the party commissioning the work of authorship all the means of commercially exploiting the copyrightable work. This collection of rights includes the exclusive rights of 1) reproduction, 2) adaptation, 3) publication, 4) performance, and 5) display. In addition to these five rights, the copyright owner may prohibit the importation of infringing copies into the US in certain situations.
In principle, the author of any copyrightable work is granted these basic five rights. However, different works may have different limitations depending on the nature of the work. This is especially true in the case of computer programs, reproduction of pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, internet material, and sound recordings. For instance, it is not an infringement to make a copy of a computer program provided the copy is to utilize the software for backup purposes and not for sale. In the case of works of art -pictorial, graphic, and sculptural- it is also permitted for third parties to reproduce these works on useful articles such as in new reports, commentaries, and advertisement. This is an example where the Copyright Act of 1976 prevents the author from enforcing the exclusivity rights of reproduction.
Finally, the nature of the work is also an important factor in the assessment of fair use. As an example, it would be easier to protect the rights of a movie or a movie script than those of a public news broadcast, a public scientific information session, or scientific literature. This is the case because the copying from scholarly and informational works is easier to justify as fair use since the purpose is often to educate and disseminate knowledge.
References:
[1] Stim, R. "Intellectual Property. Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights" West Legal Studies.
[2] Black's Law Dictionary 5th ed., (West Publishing, 1979).
[3] Copyright Act of 1976
In principle, the author of any copyrightable work is granted these basic five rights. However, different works may have different limitations depending on the nature of the work. This is especially true in the case of computer programs, reproduction of pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, internet material, and sound recordings. For instance, it is not an infringement to make a copy of a computer program provided the copy is to utilize the software for backup purposes and not for sale. In the case of works of art -pictorial, graphic, and sculptural- it is also permitted for third parties to reproduce these works on useful articles such as in new reports, commentaries, and advertisement. This is an example where the Copyright Act of 1976 prevents the author from enforcing the exclusivity rights of reproduction.
Finally, the nature of the work is also an important factor in the assessment of fair use. As an example, it would be easier to protect the rights of a movie or a movie script than those of a public news broadcast, a public scientific information session, or scientific literature. This is the case because the copying from scholarly and informational works is easier to justify as fair use since the purpose is often to educate and disseminate knowledge.
References:
[1] Stim, R. "Intellectual Property. Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights" West Legal Studies.
[2] Black's Law Dictionary 5th ed., (West Publishing, 1979).
[3] Copyright Act of 1976