Copyright protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. There are many different types of works including paintings, photographs, illustrations, musical compositions, computer programs, books, poems, movies, plays, and more.
We register copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office for numerous different works of authorship and we advise clients in matters of ownership, licensing, and enforcement of copyright in its many contexts.
U.S. copyright law provides copyright owners with the following exclusive rights:
- Reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords.
- Prepare derivative works based upon the work.
- Distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending.
- Perform the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a motion picture or other audiovisual work.
- Display the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work.
- Perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission if the work is a sound recording.