People often use the terms "author rights" and "literary rights" to mean copyrights. Copyrights are legal rights that attach to certain types of intellectual property. Copyrights are granted under federal law to authors of creative works at the time of the work's creation in a fixed, tangible form. Authors do not have to apply for or file a copyright.
Section 106 of the Copyright Act states that only the owner of a copyright has the authority to use the work in one of six ways (examples of each provided as bullet points):
- To reproduce the work
- E.g., make physical or digital copies of yourwork for colleagues, students, or others
- To prepare derivative works based upon the work
- E.g., prepare a subsequent article, chapter, or book that builds upon their original or prior research on a particular topic
- To distribute copies of the work
- E.g., distributephysical or digital copies of yourwork tocolleagues, students, or at conferences
- To publicly perform the work
- E.g., show video of yourfield work in the classroom or at conferences
- To publicly display the work
- E.g., show photos, exhibits, and figures from your works in the classroom or at conferences
- To publicly perform sound recordings via a digital audio transmission
- E.g., for those working with sound recordings, to digitally transmit yourwork (broadcast online, etc.)
What are exclusive rights?
Copyright law states that only a copyright owner may engage in the six aforementioned rights. However, because knowledge and society would fail to progress if only a copyright owner could engage with copyrighted works, there are two ways in which others are legally permitted to use copyrighted works. These are referred to as copyright limitations.
Copyright limitations
Copyright is limited in two ways: statutorily and contractually.
Although there are several statutory limits, the two most commonly known among researchers and librarians are fair use (Section 107) and the libraries exception (Section 108). When a statutory limitation is applied, the copyright owner still owns the work and the copyright in it, but the law permits others to use the work under certain circ*mstances. When a copyright expires -- currently 70 years after the death of an author, although there are several nuances to this rule -- the work is no longer protected by copyright and the public can use the work in any way they desire.
Contractual limitations arise when a copyright owner engages in a private agreement with another party that affects the ownership or use of the copyrighted work. The six exclusive rights discussed above are commonly referred to as a "bundle of rights" because copyright owners control each of the rights individually and as a group. When a copyright owner contracts with another party to permit use of their rights, the owner can give away one, some, none, or all of their rights. He or she can transfer or license the rights. He or she can enter into an exclusive or non-exclusive, irrevocable or revocable license.Because the flexibility to give away rights is so tailored-made, authors wield a lot of power in negotiating their authors rights agreements with publishers.
