What is Copyright?

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that pertains to the exclusive rights granted to an author of an authentic or creative piece of work, for a fixed period of time. Copyright also extends to any form of creative idea or information that is definite and set in its chosen medium. The author also has exclusive rights over the publication, adaptation, and distribution of their original work. The original work becomes part of the public domain after the fixed time period elapses.

The time duration of a copyright varies with each country’s jurisdiction. It may be between fifty to a hundred years from the demise of the author, or for a smaller timeline. In some countries, copyright has to be renewed, to stay valid. Certain jurisdictions have an established process for obtaining copyright; however completed works are granted copyright without registration, by most jurisdictions.

Berne convention

The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works was the first to establish common recognition of copyright among independent countries. The convention was held in Berne, Switzerland in 1886. The Berne Convention now has 164 countries as members. Authors of creative works, belonging to countries that had adopted the guidelines of the Berne Convention, did not need to register or apply for a copyright; the copyright would come into force automatically upon the creation of the work. However, certain member countries of the Berne convention still have an copyright registration process in place.

The Berne convention also requires member countries to identify and accept copyrighted works of other member countries as well. Authors can expect the same copyright privileges in a foreign country, as of their country of origin, under the Berne convention.

The Berne convention asserts that all works, apart from photographic and cinematographic works, should have copyright protection for no less than fifty years after the author’s demise. In regards to photographic works, the copyright timeline was set to twenty five years and for cinematographic works, a minimum of 50 years.

General Copyright Coverage

Copyright holders are entitled to certain distinctive rights. They are as follows:

• The right to create and sell copies of the work
• The right to permit public display of the work
• The right to import or export the work
• The right to sell or transfer the copyright to others
• The right to broadcast the work on radio, television and other forms of communication

The copyright holder has legal authority to obtain protection from a court of law, incase of use of their work by others, without prior authorization. The usage of copyrighted work without the consent of the copyright holder is known as copyright infringement.

Under US law, in case of copyright infringement, the copyright holder must clearly establish proof of ownership for his or her original work. The next step in the process is to ascertain the actual occurrence of copying with tangible evidence. Finally, the misappropriation will have to be identified based on submitted evidence. A copyrighted work may hold elements which are not covered by a copyright. These elements include ideas, facts, content and themes that may form part of the public domain. The misappropriation of the original work is limited to the copyright protected part of it, and not to the elements that come under the public domain.