Copyright Information for Faculty and Students: Basics

• Literary works
• Musical works
• Dramatic works
• Pantomimes and choreographic works
• Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
• Sound recordings
• Architectural works

• Ideas and concepts
• Facts
• Names, titles, slogans, short phrases
• Procedures, processes, and systems
• Principles
• Discoveries
• Lists of ingredients
• Works not fixed in tangible form
• Works that are not original

Copyright is a legal protection provided by law to the creators of intellectual property. According to Title 17 of the U.S. code, copyright subsists "in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device."

• The owner of the copyright normally is the creator, unless it is a work for hire or unless the creator has sold their rights.
• With some exceptions, the copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform the work publicly, display the work publicly or to authorize others to do so.
• Copyright applies to both published and unpublished works.
• The length of copyright varies, depending on several factors.
• A work does not have to be registered with the Copyright Office or have a copyright symbol on it to be copyrighted.
• Different nations have different copyright laws.

Works for which copyright has expired, been forfeited, or never applied are considered to be in the public domain, available for anyone to take any of the actions a copyright owner could do: reproduce, distribute, create derivative works, perform, or display.

Expiration of copyright: Works created after 1977 are typically protected for the life of the author/creator plus 70 years, as are unpublished works created prior to 1978. If there are multiple creators, then it's the last surviving creator's life plus 70 years. If it is a work-for-hire, then copyright lasts 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation. Works published between 1930 and 1977 may or may not be protected by copyright, depending on how they were published, if they were registered with the Copyright Office, and whether their registration was renewed. For a thorough guide, please see Cornell University Library's Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States chart.

Forfeit of copyright: Authors/creators can choose to give up their copyright. In recent years, many authors/creators have chosen Creative Commons licenses for their works. A CC0 license puts the work in the public domain, while the other CC licenses allow reuse, distribution, etc. with some conditions.

Copyright never applied: Federal government publications are nearly all in the public domain as soon as they are created, as are some state publications.