Copyright © is a form of protection provided by the laws of the

United States.to the authors of “original works of

authorship,” includingLiterary, dramatic, musical,

artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This

protection is available to both published and unpublished

works.

WHY DO WE HAVE COPYRIGHT LAWS,

AND WHAT DO THEY COVER Copyright laws protect drama, literature, music, graphics, architecture, sculptures, and other "intellectual works". These laws are designed to ensure that an artist is recognized and compensated for his work. They also prevent other people from passing the work off as their own.

The person or company who holds the copyright is the only one legally able to reproduce, change, publish, sell, distribute, or perform the copyrighted material. Therefore, it is important to correctly cite any work you use that is not your own so that you do not violate copyright laws.

WHO CAN HOLD COPYRIGHTS?

The author or the creator of the work usually owns the copyright. However, if an employee created the work as part of a job, the employer automatically holds the copyright. Minors can copyright their works, but state laws often control how they can market them.

HOW LONG DOES A COPYRIGHT LAST?

Copyrights last anywhere from 67 to 95 years, depending on when the copyrighted item was created, and when the copyright was issued.  The default length of copyright is the life of the author plus either 50 or 70 years.

An author of a copyrighted work has the following exclusive rights:

1. to reproduce the work (e.g., to make copies) .

2. to prepare derivative works (e.g., translation, abridgment, condensation, adaptation) .

3. to distribute copies to the public (e.g., publish, sell, rental, lease, or lending) .

4. to perform the work publicly. 5. to display the work publicly.

How to Get Something Copyrighted?

• Determine whether or not you have a piece of material that can be copyrighted.

• Get your material copyrighted. To copyright any material that you have created, you must register it with the copyright office at the Library of Congress.  

You must include three items in your packet that you send to the Library of Congress: 1) a completed application, 2) a filing fee for the application and 3) a copy of the work being registered. There are different applications for different media.

The basic filing fee for a new work is $45. It must be remitted in check, money order or cashier's check. No cash . A complete copy of the work you are copyrighting must be included.

HOW CAN I TELL WHETHER OR NOT SOMETHING I WANT TO USE IS COPYRIGHTED?

You can tell if a work is copyrighted by looking for a copyright notice when the work is "visually perceptible" (this means it is printed). Although law no longer requires notices of copyright, most publishers still include them. In books, they are most often located inside the front cover, have a © symbol, the year of copyright, and the owner of the copyright.

Note : If a copyright statement reads, "© Copyright 1998, 1999 John Smith." does that mean that John Smith's copyright expired in 1999? The dates that you see in a copyright statement do not refer to the dates that the owner's material will expire and become public domain - they actually refer to the dates that the material was created and/or modified

Reality stories :

In Jordan the writer of “the land of cure” ( which contains the names and numbers of the doctors around Jordan) wanted to make sure that her rights are preserved , so she searched for a way to make sure no one copies her work and the copyright company workers told her to put some made up names and numbers in the book so when someone copies her book , she will have a prove that they didn’t search for the names and numbers them selves.

(To continue)

and shortly after the book was out on the market , many people copied it and the author proved them to be liars and copiers , and they were arrested in the case of violating the copyright law .

Human right #27Human right #27

Copy rightCopy rightAsk for your right

Done by : •Shahd hamouri•Aseel hadadin•Nadine barakat