Copyright and the public domain: an introduction  (Page 3/5)

Copyright law covers works that have not been published or even made public. So, for example, private letters, diaries, and email messages are all protected by copyright law.

Some countries used to require published works to be registered with a central office or to carry a copyright notice with the name of the author and the year of publication in order to be protected by copyright law. Such formalities are no longer necessary for a work to be covered by copyright law. However, registering a copyright may help prove authorship or identify who must be contacted for permission before a work can be reused. In some countries, registration of a work is necessary before the author is permitted to sue someone for copyright infringement. (Foreign authors, however, are exempted from this requirement.) In addition, some countries continue to require publishers to deposit one copy of every new work in a designated office, such as a national library.

Who gets a copyright?

A copyright is ordinarily obtained by the creator of a work. If you write a novel, paint a painting, or compose a song, you will generally acquire the copyright in your creation.

The situation is more complicated if you are an employee creating the work as part of your employment. Countries vary a great deal in how they deal with such situations. Typically, in countries that follow the common law tradition, the copyright in a work prepared by an employee within the scope of employment goes to the employer. By contrast, in countries that follow the civil law tradition, the copyright typically goes to the employee. However, in civil-law countries, employment contracts or even copyright law often give employers rights over their employees’ creations similar (though not identical) to the copyrights enjoyed by employers in common-law countries. Finally, in the United States and some other countries, when specific types of works are created in specific circumstances by independent contractors, the contractors and the organizations commissioning the works may agree in writing that the commissioning organizations shall be awarded the copyrights.

What rights come with copyright?

The rights created by copyright law fall into two categories: economic rights and moral rights.

Economic rights are intended to give authors the opportunity to use their works to make money. These are things that typically only the owner of the copyright may do unless the owner grants permission to others. (Important exceptions to the requirement to obtain the copyright holder's permission, such as fair use and compulsory licenses, are discussed below.) The primary economic rights are:

• the right to reproduce the work -- in other words, to make copies of it;
• the right to create derivative works -- such as translations, abridgments, or adaptations;
• the right to distribute the work -- for example, by selling or renting copies of it;
• the right to perform or display the work publicly.

Moral rights are designed to protect authors’ noneconomic interests in their creations. Moral rights do not exist in all countries. Generally speaking, they are recognized more widely and are enforced more firmly in civil-law countries than in common-law countries. The primary moral rights are: