Copyright law in the United States is a body of law authorized under Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution that is intended to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. Under the Copyright Act, copyright law extends to all works of creative authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Thus, copyright rights exist upon fixation–as soon as a creative work is set into a semi-permanent form, copyright law applies. Copyrightable works include books, websites, movies, music, sculptural works, architectural works, dramatic works, choreographic works, and photographs.
Though copyright law extends to creative works, it does not protect inventions, ideas, facts, procedures, processes, short names, concepts, principles, or discoveries. Additionally, copyright law does not protect useful articles, that is, utilitarian articles that do not contain creative components that are either physically or conceptually separable from the functional aspects of the article. For example, though copyright law can protect an automobile creator’s logo, it cannot protect the body of a car unless there are features of that body design that are not dictated by the functional aspects of the vehicle.
Copyright owners are granted six exclusive rights in the copyrighted work:
These exclusive rights are subject to certain limitations, such as fair use. Copyright infringement occurs where one of these exclusive rights is violated and may be proven by establishing that the infringer had access to the plaintiff’s work and that the defendant’s work is substantially similar to the plaintiff’s work. If you believe that your copyright rights have been infringed, contact one of our expert copyright lawyers today.
Copyright ownership is not always straightforward. The general rule is that the author of a work owns the copyright. But there are two important exceptions that every business and creator needs to understand.
The first is the work-for-hire doctrine. Under 17 U.S.C. § 101, a “work made for hire” is either (1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of their employment, or (2) a work specially ordered or commissioned for use in certain categories if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire. When a work is made for hire, the employer or commissioning party—not the actual human creator—is the legal author and initial copyright owner.
The practical implications are significant. Content created by your employees while doing their jobs belongs to your business under the work-for-hire doctrine. But content created by independent contractors does not automatically belong to you—independent contractors own the copyright to their work unless there is a written agreement assigning it or designating it as a work made for hire within one of the statutory categories. Many businesses discover this problem only when they try to register, license, or enforce copyright in content they paid for but do not legally own.
Although copyright protection arises automatically upon fixation, registration with the U.S. Copyright Office provides critical benefits that unregistered works lack. Most importantly, registration is a prerequisite for filing an infringement lawsuit in federal court for U.S. works. The Supreme Court confirmed this in Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 586 U.S. 296 (2019), holding that registration requires an actual grant or refusal of registration from the Copyright Office—not merely submission of the application.
Registration also determines what remedies are available if infringement occurs. If a work is registered before infringement begins, or within three months of first publication, the copyright owner may elect statutory damages of up to $30,000 per infringed work (or up to $150,000 for willful infringement) and may recover attorney’s fees. Without timely registration, the owner is limited to actual damages, which are often difficult to prove and may not justify the cost of litigation.
Copyright protection is not indefinite. The duration depends on when the work was created and the circumstances of its authorship. For works created on or after January 1, 1978, the term of copyright is the life of the author plus 70 years. For works made for hire, anonymous works, and pseudonymous works, the term is 95 years from first publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first. Works created before 1978 are subject to different rules depending on whether and when they were published and whether copyright was renewed.
When a copyright expires, the work enters the public domain and can be freely used without permission or payment. Determining whether a particular work is in the public domain requires careful analysis of the applicable copyright term and publication history, which an experienced copyright attorney can provide.
Fair use is a statutory defense to copyright infringement codified at 17 U.S.C. § 107. It allows unauthorized use of copyrighted works in certain circumstances, including criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Courts evaluate fair use by applying four factors:
Fair use is a highly fact-specific analysis, and courts do not apply it mechanically. There are no bright-line rules that guarantee a use is fair—anyone who relies on fair use without legal analysis does so at their own risk.
Copyright law touches every creative business and every creator. Whether you need to register your works, enforce your rights against an infringer, or defend against an infringement claim, the copyright attorneys at Revision Legal are ready to help. Contact us today for a consultation.
The digital transformation of media and content distribution has raised new copyright questions that Congress and the courts are still working through. Streaming services have disrupted traditional licensing models and created new questions about the scope of the public performance right and the applicability of compulsory licenses. Artificial intelligence systems trained on copyrighted works without authorization have raised fundamental questions about the application of fair use doctrine to machine learning, with major litigation pending in multiple federal circuits.
For content creators and businesses that rely on copyright protection, staying current with these developments is essential. A copyright attorney who is actively engaged in the evolving digital copyright landscape can advise on how emerging legal trends affect your specific rights and obligations. Whether you are a musician navigating streaming royalties, a publisher evaluating AI licensing opportunities, or a software company defending against copyright claims related to your training data, the copyright lawyers at Revision Legal are current on the legal developments most likely to affect your business. Contact us today for a consultation.
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