Copyright Statutory Formalities

Copyright protection in the United States is automatic upon the fixation of an original work of authorship. The use of the copyright notice and the registration of a work are referred to as formalities, which are the procedural requirements for securing and maintaining full copyright protection, and were formerly requirements for copyright protection. Some of the most sweeping changes under the 1976 Copyright Act involve copyright formalities.

Patent Law: Hatch-Waxman Act

(The Hatch-Waxman Act )

Reproduction Rights

The reproduction right is one of the exclusive rights granted to the owner of a copyright by the Copyright Act. Under this right, no one other than the copyright owner may make any reproductions or copies of the work. Under the Copyright Act the copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work or to authorize its reproduction. Examples of unauthorized acts which are prohibited under this right include photocopying a book, copying a computer software program, using a cartoon character on a T-shirt, and incorporating a portion of another's song into a new song. The Copyright Act covers reproduction in any form.

Copyright and Best Edition

The copyright law requires that copies or phonorecords deposited in the Copyright Office be of the "best edition" of the work. The best edition of the work is the edition, which was published in the United States at any time before the date of deposit, that the Library of Congress determines is the most suitable for its purposes.

Distribution Rights

The distribution right grants to the copyright holder the exclusive right to make a work available to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending. The owner of a copyright has the right to give away, sell, or withhold any material embodiment of his or her work. In essence, this is the right to control publication of a work because publication without distribution of copies is meaningless. This right allows the copyright holder to prevent the distribution of unauthorized copies of a work. In addition, the right allows the copyright holder to control the first distribution of a particular authorized copy. However, the distribution right is limited by the "first sale doctrine," which states that after the first sale or distribution of a copy, the copyright holder can no longer control what happens to that copy.