Copyright: Copyright is a doctrine of federal law that invests the “author” of a creative work of original “expression” with certain exclusive rights, enforceable by law, for a limited period of time, and subject to defined limitations. U.S. copyright law is found in the Copyright Act, Title 17 of the United States Code.
These exclusive rights, set forth in Section 106 of Title 17, include the rights to do, and to authorize others to do, the following:
Violation of any of these rights, by engaging in the activity without authority from the copyright owner or a relevant statutory exception or limitation on the right at issue, is called “infringement” and is subject to potentially significant civil liability and, in certain cases, criminal liability. Infringement and the legal remedies for infringement are discussed in Part I.M. In addition to civil and/or criminal liability, infringement of these rights may also result in a grade reduction/change to an "F" for the course.
Copyright can apply to a wide array of different types of works, including those identified in Sections 102(a) and 103:
It is important to distinguish the copyright in a work from the ownership of a particular copy of a work. For example, ownership of a copy of a book does not include ownership of any of the copyright rights, such as the right to make copies of the content of that book. See Section 202. There are, however, specific exceptions and limitations on the copyright rights that allow the owner of a copy of a work to take certain actions with respect to that work that do not violate the exclusive rights of the copyright holder. See Parts I.F-L.
A copyrightable original work of creative expression is protected by copyright automatically, from the moment it is fixed in any “tangible medium of expression” (such as paper, film, or a computer disk or memory) from which it can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. For example, copyright attaches to a literary work such as an article or a novel as soon as the author writes it on paper or types it onto a computer hard drive. No other act or process need take place.
Although registration of a work with the U.S. Copyright Office is not necessary to obtain copyright protection, there are significant benefits to the copyright owner from registration if the owner must go to court to enforce a copyright against an alleged infringer. See discussion of remedies in Part I.M.
A work is protected by copyright even if it does not contain a formal copyright notice (the word “copyright,” abbreviation “copr.,” or symbol “©” with the year of first publication and name of the copyright owner), although works first published before March 1, 1989, without notice, may have entered the public domain (see discussion of the public domain in Part I.C).
Any recording (audio, video, or any other format known or unknown) made in class by anyone (student or instructor) is considered part of the course materials for the course and is therefore copyrighted by Dr Hollier. The rights of the student for that recording are the same as the rights of the student for all course materials under the copyright policy for the course.
Copyright License Summary