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Things about Copyright Laws That One Needs To Know

Posted On : Jan-30-2010 | seen (1596) times | Article Word Count : 497 |

What is copyright law? This answer is unknown to many and so through this article, we are trying to provide you some basic information about copywriting and its laws. The Copyright Act, introduced in 1976, had ushered in the copyright laws.
What is copyright law? This answer is unknown to many and so through this article, we are trying to provide you some basic information about copywriting and its laws. The Copyright Act, introduced in 1976, had ushered in the copyright laws. Copyright laws prevent an individual or a company from illegal imitations. If a person violates this rule, they will be fined or imprisoned.

Copyright laws state that imitating a piece of work is illegal, but the idea behind the work can be borrowed. If a person wants to register his work, he can get it done from the Copyright office that is located in the Library of Congress.

In recent times, a person need not register a new piece of work at the Copyright Office. But registering will entitle the owner to some added advantages. The kinds of works that get registered under this law are termed as work of authorship. With the invention of difference media, Congress had suggested that one can do without getting their works registered.

The works of authorship includes literary pieces, musical albums along with its lyrics, architectural pieces, movies, sound recordings, pictures, sculptures, dramas and dance steps. All the things that are registered in the Copyright belong to any one of these categories. Although the list is small, a wide range of things are covered by these categories.

Computer compilations and programs are registered under the category of literary pieces, while plans and maps are registered under pictorial, graphic and sculptural work. CD ROMs and various websites have registered their works under the Copyright laws.

In 1978, United States had introduced the rule of automatic copyright registrations. Previously, a person or a company would have to get their work published to secure copyright protection. With the advent of the automatic copyright protection, an individual can register for the copyright protection without publishing it.

In US if a piece of work is published without a notice of copyright protection, the work becomes a part of the public domain. A piece of work that once enters that public domain cannot be stripped of its tag. In the United States, the Copyright act forms a section of the Federal Law. The Copyright law is passed by the Us Constitution. The Copyright Clause is mentioned in Clause 8 of Section 8 of the Article 1.

A person violating the copyright laws will have to pay a maximum fine of $500000 or serve five years of imprisonment or both, depending on the gravity of the crime. If the person is seen repeatedly violating the Copyright laws, he is subjected to 10 years of imprisonment or a maximum of $1 million, or both. Libraries, institutions and broadcasting media are excused from this rule.

Therefore it can be seen that copyright laws have been introduced for the benefit. Without these laws, plagiarism would have become a common problem

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Category : Society : Society

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