What is copyright?
Copyright is a grant of certain exclusive rights to the creator of an expressive work. Those exclusive rights include reproduction, distribution and public performance (17 U.S.C. s. 106). Congressional power to enact copyright law derives from the Copyright Clause of the Constitution: “Congress shall have the power . . . To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries” (Art. I, cl. 8) Copyright protects only “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression.” (17 U.S.C. 102). It does not protect ideas or functional elements of a work. This focus on the expression of ideas, rather than on the ideas themselves, distinguishes copyright from other forms of intellectual property in the United States, such as patents and trade secrets. Copyright has been called a “delicate balance” between the interests of creators and those of the public. Its “li
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors “of original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following to reproduce, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phono records, to perform the copyright work publicly, and to display the copyrighted work publicly.
Under the United States Copyright Act found at Title 17 of the U.S. Code, copyright is a form of protection provided by law to the creators of original works of authorship, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and certain other intellectual works, granting the author certain exclusive rights.
In Canada, copyright protection is automatically granted to creators of original works. Copyright is actually a number of rights. These rights include, amongst others, the right to copy the work, also known as reproduction rights, and the right to perform the work in public. SOCAN administers the performing rights in a musical work. SOCAN does not register copyrights. For more information, see our section on copyright.
