Rights Of Copyright Owners

Rights of Copyright Owners in the United States

Copyright Law in the United States: Rights of Copyright Law Owners and Licensing

Introduction to Rights of Copyright Owners and Licensing

The Copyright Act of 1976 gives copyright owners five exclusive rights. These rights are:

  • only the copyright owner may reproduce or make copies of the work;
  • only the copyright owner may prepare adaptations of the work, such as translating a novel into another language or adapting the novel into a screenplay;
  • only the copyright owner may distribute copies of the work to the public;
  • only the copyright owner may perform the work in public; and
  • only the copyright owner may display the work in public.

Not all of these rights are granted to every type of copyrighted work. For instance, because of concerns about the economic power of the recording industry, Congress did not originally grant an exclusive right of public performance to sound recordings. As a result, while radio stations must secure permission and pay a fee to composers in order to broadcast their songs, they do not need the permission of-and do not need to pay-the record companies. In 1995, however, Congress recognized that consumers who were able to receive high-quality digital performances of recorded music over the Internet or through cable systems might decide to purchase fewer CDs. To protect the economic interests of the recording industry, Congress gave the owners of copyright in sound recordings a limited exclusive right to control the performance of the work by means of digital transmission.

All of these rights are subject to many exceptions, which are detailed in the copyright act. For instance, certain nonprofit organizations can perform certain copyrighted works without the permission of the copyright owner, and libraries can make copies of damaged books without violating the copyright statute. The statute also permits owners of copies of computer software to make one copy as a backup.

Copyright owners often cannot or do not want to use all their rights by themselves. For example, the author of a novel may have no way to turn that work into a motion picture or translate it into a foreign language. Copyright law permits a copyright owner to enter into agreements that allow others to use some or all of the owner’s rights in return for payment. These transactions are called copyright licenses. Licensing greatly increases the ability of the copyright owner to make money from the work. For example, the author of a novel could license one publisher to print the work in hardbound copies, license another to reproduce and distribute paperback copies, and could also license a motion-picture company to create a movie based on the novel. The copyright owner can also sell the copyright entirely. This is called an assignment.

Copyright owners have the right to terminate any licenses and assignments after a certain number of years. If the author made the assignment or license after January 1, 1978, the author may terminate the arrangement 35 years after the relevant transaction. For assignments or licenses made before that date, the author can terminate the arrangement 56 years after the work was first published. This permits the copyright owner to renegotiate the terms of the transaction if the work turns out to be more commercially valuable than the parties had originally anticipated.

In certain cases, the statute allows parties to use copyrighted works without having to negotiate a license with the copyright owner, provided they pay a set fee, called a royalty, determined by the government. This is known as a compulsory license. The Copyright Act of 1976 gives cable television systems and satellite television systems this type of compulsory license. It also grants a compulsory license to record companies to use musical compositions, once the copyright owner has authorized at least one person to make recordings of the work. The royalty amounts are set by groups called Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels of the U.S. Copyright Office.” (1)

Copyright in the U.S. Code

The United States Copyright Code appears in Title 17 of the United State Code.

Resources

Notes and References

Guide to Rights of Copyright Owners and Licensing

In this Section

Copyright, Copyright Subject Matter, Copyright Notice and Registration, Rights of Copyright Owners and Licensing, Copyright Infringement and Fair Use.


Posted

in

, ,

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *