Intellectual Property Law: A Practical Guide to Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks and Trade Secrets

Exclusive Rights in Copyrighted Works

The owner of a copyright has the exclusive right to do (and to authorize others to do) all of the following with regard to the work protected by the copyright:

(1) To reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

(2) To prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

(3) To distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

(4) In the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

(5) In the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copy-righted work publicly; and

(6) In the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.⁶

The exclusive nature of the enumerated rights means that no one other than the owner of a copyright (and those acting with his or her consent) may copy, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform or create derivative works based on the copyrighted work. Unauthorized use of copyrighted materials can lead to civil and criminal sanctions that will be discussed later in this chapter. It is important to note that civil and criminal copyright infringement can occur even when unauthorized use of copyrighted work is made that does not bring any material benefit to the copyright infringer. Thus, while making unauthorized copies of a copyrighted book, music CD or of a video DVD for sale clearly involve both criminal and civil violations of copyright law, so does copying a rented movie to keep for personal use, copying an audio book borrowed from the library, or burning a CD of one’s favorite music to give to a friend. By purchasing a legal copy of a copyrighted work such as a book, magazine, or legally downloaded MP3 music files, the user generally obtains the right to use those files for personal use only, and not to copy or redistribute them. Thus, you may watch a rented or purchased movie at home and show it to guests in your home for non-commercial purposes (e.g., without charging them a fee). However, you cannot show the movie in a setting that is open to the public (e.g., on a projection system in your back yard where everyone is welcomed to view the movie). Moreover, the same is true for copyrighted work that is non-commercial in nature. The performance of an amateur rock band in someone’s garage cannot be taped without the band’s consent; and if consent is given to tape the performance, copies of the performance cannot be made without the express consent of the band, nor can the taped performance be posted online, broadcast or played at a public venue without the band’s consent. And the same is true for a dance routine, short story, poem, drawing, painting, sculpture or any other subject matter protected by copyright.