Copyright Rights

What are the Copyright Rights?

Last time we talked about how copyright can be obtained for artistic works, when the artistic work is fixed, but not the mere idea or concept, and the creator owns the copyright in the artistic work when it is fixed.  But what rights does copyright provide?

Rights under a copyright are a creation of law, rights created by Congress.  Section 106 of the Copyright Act gives six specific exclusive rights to a copyright owner: 

1. to reproduce the copyrighted work;
2. to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted     work;
3. to distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public;
4. to perform the copyrighted work publicly;
5. to display the copyrighted work publicly; and
6. for sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by a digital audio transmission.

          Under the reproduction right, no one other than the copyright owner may make any copies of an artistic work.  A derivative work is a work based upon a preexisting artistic works that is transformed, or adapted, such as transformation of a novel into a motion picture.  Distribution is the right to make an artistic work available to the public for sale, rental, lease, or lending.  

         The public performance right allows a copyright owner to control when an artistic work is performed publicly.  Public performance includes television and radio broadcasts.  The public display right is similar to the public performance right.  And the right to perform the copyrighted work publicly by a digital audio transmission made digital broadcasts similar to the public performance right. 

These exclusive copyrights rights are different from the rights of a person who buys a copy of an artistic work.  Buying a copy of an artistic work gives a property right in a copy, and the copy can be sold.  But the buyer does not own any part of the copyright.  

As an example, when a person purchases a song, on a compact disc or as a download, the person has received a property right in a copy of a copyrighted work (the song).  The person buying the song does not receive any copyright rights when the person purchases the song.  The copyright rights are held by the song’s creators (writers and performers) until the song’s creators specifically transfer them to a record label and/or music publisher.  

The person who bought the song may not make copies of the song for distribution, because the right to reproduce and distribute the song are exclusive rights granted under the Copyright Act.  But a copyright owner can sell copies of an artistic work, without giving up the copyright rights.