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Copyright Law

As a component of intellectual property law, a copyright enables an owner of intellectual property the right to exclude other parties from distributing, displaying, reproducing, or using the property covered by the copyright, whether it be both tangible or intangible, for a specific time period.

Evolving technology has led to an ever expanding understanding of the word “writings” which can now cover architectural design, software, the graphic arts, motion pictures, and sound recordings.

A copyright gives the owner the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license his work. The owner also receives the exclusive right to produce or license derivatives of his or her work. Limited exceptions to this exclusivity exist for types of “fair use”, such as book reviews. Under current law, works are covered whether or not a copyright notice is attached and whether or not the work is registered.