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What is a Copyright?

You feel betrayed when a peer or a competitor reproduces your original expressions and passes them off conveniently as their own in the market. However, you can take respite because federal laws protect your copyright inventions so that you feel less vulnerable and threatened by outright violations of your creativity.

According to the honourable Apex court, a work should have a 'spark' and 'modicum' of creativity to be copyrighted. Titles, names, phrases, slogans, familiar designs, lettering, coloring, and decorative variants of original compositions cannot qualify as creative. Copyright protects expressions, not ideas, discoveries, inventions, methods, systems, or processes. You need to fix or record your work to claim copyright ownership.

Copyright rights protect your artistic expressions as the original creator of either one or more of the following:

● Musical compositions

● Literary pieces like poems, novels, etc

● Drama

● Choreographic works

● Fine artworks like paintings, architecture, and sculptural works

● Cinematography

● Sound recordings

●Other audio-visual compositions

A qualified copyright attorney can explain at length what federal copyright laws entail. Copyright is an intellectual property like trademarks, patents, and trade secrets. People frequently confuse between copyrights, patents, and trademarks and incorrectly use these interchangeably or as compound words like copyright trademark, or copyright patent, but there is a clear distinction.

While copyright rights protect the creative expressions of an artist from illegal duplications, trademarks are a set of unique symbols, letters, or logo designs used to differentiate one brand/product from another. A patent regarding scientific formulas and inventions confers exclusive rights to the intended person to prevent others from making, using, and selling similar formulations. Trademark and copyright laws are separate.

Copyright Myths vs. Truths

We are living in times of information explosion. However, everything that is available on the internet is not authentic. Given the alarming rise in copyright infringement cases, it is natural for the ordinary person to get easily deluded by numerous misconceptions regarding copyrights. The US laws are stringent and do not excuse infringement on any grounds.

It is in your best interest to hire the best copyright attorney in town to clarify what qualifies for an infringement and what does not – so that you can stay confident of your rights and keep your sanity intact in the event of baseless copyright lawsuits and allegations.

In this section, we attempt to debunk a few copyright myths so that you know your rights as a copyright holder and obligations as a user.

● Public Access Means Free Use

– The popular myth is that anything readily accessed from a public domain, like the internet, can be used without authorization. When a 'work of authorship’ has been fixed 'in any tangible medium of expression,' it lasts for as long as 95 years from the first date of publication. No user enjoys the liberty to indiscriminately use artistic pieces of expression by another author on the argument that those works were free to access in the first place. If held guilty of copyright infringement, an unauthorized user will be liable to pay damages up to '$150,000 per registered work infringed.'

● Notarized Copy of Work is Copyright

– Once you have finished creating a specific work of art (book, music, painting, compositions, or anything related), simply mailing yourself a copy of the work or getting it notarized may not be sufficient to claim your copyright rights. The US copyright office will not consider any work as copyrighted unless it has been registered with it with proper documentation.

● Registration is Not Mandatory

– This argument holds water to some extent, but it is still advisable to register your artwork immediately with the US copyright office once you are ready to release it in a tangible form of expression. Having a registered copyright copy in your possession can protect you against legal hassles in the future where you could be drawn into needless but expensive lawsuits, and false claims by iniquitous third parties could mar your reputation.

Registration is a long-drawn process with several legal implications that can be resolved by hiring a competent copyright attorney. If still in doubt, search on Google headlining 'copyright attorneys near me,' which would feature names of the best copyright attorneys.

● Copyright Infringement Is Permissible When You Use Less Than A Certain Amount Of Work

– Certainly not. There is no rule in the federal copyright laws permitting the use of the copyrighted artistic expressions by another for an arbitrary number of times or for a specific duration to qualify as 'fair use.' As long as the work of art remains valid under copyright laws and tenure, no one can infringe upon it or even rightfully use portions of it. In such an event, the copyright holder reserves the right to sue the unauthorized user.

Duration Of Copyright

A tricky question for any practicing copyright attorney to answer this question. By the US statutory copyright guidelines, copyright duration lasts up to 70 years after the author’s death, up to 95 years from the first year of publication, or 120 years if the work was a “work for hire.”

Do You Need a Copyright Attorney?

The US federal laws do not compel you to hire a copyright attorney to register your artwork or safeguard your rights as the originator of a unique piece of art. Registration is voluntary.

However, it can get increasingly sticky for creators to handle copyright issues on their own when faced with illegal infringements or when they unknowingly trespass against rights reserved for others. In such an event, they might be served a cease-and-desist legal notice by the claimant. You can either settle claims running into millions of dollars as compensation or challenge the claim and take legal recourse. The best copyright attorney will have the experience and competence to bail you out of copyright litigations. They also have the qualification to guide you professionally about the copyright registration process to save you the ordeal.

How Can IPExcel Help You?

IPExcel is one of the top global intellectual properties (IP) service providers with the most efficient copyright practitioners on its team. The following are the best reasons for you to choose IPExcel over any other:

● Indubitable industry expertise

● High-tech intellectual property service provider

● Intellectual property advisor with specialized knowledge and vast experience in trademark and copyright laws

● Aggressive and relentless advocacy in case of copyright infringements or false claims

● Specialist in providing IP services and managing diverse issues related to copyright inventions, copyright patents, and copyright trademark

● Your most trusted partner in providing end-to-end solutions in IP.

● They have the backing of a loyal clientele.

Get in touch with our team today to discuss your urgency, and we will be happy to extend our services to our best capacity.