Some Commonly Asked Questions Of A Copyright Infringement Lawyer

By Betty Wallace


For some reason a lot of people, who would not dream of stealing anything else, believe it is perfectly acceptable to take the work of an artist and use it for their own purposes. They do this without any thought of paying or acknowledging the creative person. It's a problem artists try to solve in a number of different ways. Whether or not a case can be pursued in court usually depends on the opinion of an experienced copyright infringement lawyer.

All creative people need to understand how and when works are considered copyrighted, what is and isn't within the realm of copyrighting law, and what recourse there is when their rights are infringed upon. For a limited amount of time, an original work belongs only to the artist. Without permission, no one else is allowed to copy it in its entirety. You will find the law in Article I of the United States Constitution. If you want to formally register your work, you can do so by contacting the U. S. Copyright Office for a registration form.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this. The biggest advantage is that, with registration, you have the right to sue someone for infringing on your work. One of the disadvantages is that there is a cost associated with each piece of work that is copyrighted. If you're a photographer for instance, you would have to pay a fee for each individual photograph in order to formally protect your work.

There are certain things that can't be copyrighted. One of these is called fixation. That means the work has to be in a tangible state. A musician's song written down or recorded is the property of that musician. The performance of the song live can't be copyrighted. Ideas can't be protected, but once the idea becomes concrete reality, it can.

There has to be an original concept involved with a work in order for the law to protect it. Many things, like days in the week and lists of people's names, are considered facts and can be used by anybody. If an artist creates an original calendar that contains days of the weeks however, the design can be protected.

Website addresses are not protected under copyright law. If you want to make sure your domain name is yours alone you have to apply to the patent office for a trademark. The duration of protection is a complicated subject, and you probably need to consult a professional for an analysis of your particular situation. Protection can last as long as the artist is alive. Sometimes copyrights stay in effect for a hundred twenty years from the creation of a work.

Artists have to be familiar with the concept of fair use. This is the legal use by others of a part of an artist's work for purposes of education, reporting, or commentary. Free use must not reduce the commercial value of a work however.

Copyrights were put in place to promote the creation of works in the arts and sciences. It gives artists protection over their work for a period of time. The Founding Fathers thought it was important enough to be included in the first Article of the Constitution.




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