Copyrights

Background. Generally, copyright is a system of protection for the intellectual arts. The title to the first copyright statute in 1790 read: "AN ACT for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." 1 Stat. 124.

Copyright is governed by federal law. The copyright statute is codified in Title 17 of the United States Code. The statute provides that: copyright subsists in "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device." 17 U.S.C. 102.

It is important to note that copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. To qualify for copyright protection, a work must have originality and some creativity.

Copyright is a right owned by every author of a work to exclude others from doing any of the following five activities in connection with a copyrighted work:

1. reproduction
2. adaptation
3. distribution to the public
4. performance in public
5. display in public

Scholarly Works. At UCAR, in keeping with the academic tradition, UCAR does not claim ownership of pedagogical or scholarly works. See the UCAR Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Policy 3-2.

Works for Hire. UCAR, however, does retain ownership of copyrightable works created as institutional rather than personal efforts, that is, created for institutional purposes in the course of the creator's employment. For instance, work assigned to programmers is institutional work or "Works for hire," as is software or system components developed for UCAR, including for a specific division or program. Examples of other institutional works include brochures, training programs, CD-ROMS, Web-based programs, videos, and manuals.

Registration. A creator of a work has immediate protection upon the creation of the work. Therefore, a formal copyright registration is not required for a creator to claim a "copyright" in a work. However, in the event that a copyright owner wants to seek redress against an infringer, the subject work must be registered before the protection of the copyright laws can be invoked.

Fair Use. Fair Use is a statutory right (See 17 U.S.C. 107) that, for some specific purposes, allows use of an author's copyrighted materials without the author's permission. The use is allowable if used in a limited manner "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research." The Fair Use exception to a copyright allows the user to transform some or all of the first work into a second work containing new views and insights. These uses do not violate the author's copyright and you do not need the author's permission to excerpt materials for these uses. The law favors educational use, however, and if the use is commercial and competes with the copyrighted work, it is less likely to qualify as Fair Use. For additional information on Fair Use, see Legal Services' article on Fair Use.

Derivative Work. A "derivative work" is a work that is based on a preexisting work and in which the preexisting work is changed, condensed or embellished in some way. Under the copyright statutes (See 17 U.S.C. 106) the owner of any copyrighted work has the exclusive right to control and authorize the preparation of any derivative works. In addition, the creator of a derivative work may be entitled to its own copyright in just the portion of the work that is derivative. The owner of the copyright in the derivative work, however, acquires no exclusive rights at all in the underlying work. The usual standard of determining the needed amount of originality in a derivative work to entitle it to its own copyright is that the derivative work must make a variation on the underlying work that is more than "merely trivial."

See also:

Procedure for Policy 3-2 UCAR Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer

NOTE: THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS NOT TO BE RELIED UPON AS LEGAL ADVICE. These areas of law are complex and subject to frequent change. If you have specific questions regarding patents, trademarks or copyrights please contact UCAR's Office of General Counsel.