Copyright Law for Faculty

The copyright law is authorized by the United States Constitution in Article 1, section 8, and states that the Congress shall have the power to "promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive rights to their respective writings and discoveries."

How Did This All Come About?
Current copyright law has evolved from 15th century Europe when copyright was utilized not as a tool for protecting the authors or publishers but as a means of raising revenue for the government and controlling content. In 1710 England adopted new legislation that reflected two principles of copyright that we have today: author protection and public domain.

The Constitution paved the way for Congress to begin to legislate U. S. copyright law. Maps, charts and books were protected under the federal act of 1790, although foreign authors were not protected until the Chace Act of 1891. U. S. publishers were able to copy the works of Dickens and other English authors to the outrage of American writers who claimed that publishers who chose the royalty-free works to distribute were ignoring their works. The creation of the Bern Union that provided European copyright protection for Americans and the adoption of the Chace Act cemented the international copyright laws.

Throughout the 1800s the protectionist list expanded to include musical compositions, dramatic performances, works of fine art and others. The 1909 Act extended the control of the "proprietor" to protect against the unauthorized recording of musical works. In 1971 Congress, through legislation, granted limited copyright in sound recordings made after February 15, 1972.

Major changes in copyright law came about in 1976. Protection would now last for the author's life plus 50 years for new works and previously unpublished works.

What is protected?
Copyright protects the unique expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. Examples of protected expressions are prose, poetry, music, painting, sculpture, architecture, programming, diagrams, charts and graphics. Protection supposes that the work is tangible such as a piece of art or a videotape. It must be original at least in part, such as a novel or student's email. It must have minimum creativity.

Copyright law prohibits the copying of works, the selling or distributing of protected work, the development of new work based on the protected work, and the public performance of a protected work.

What is not protected?
Ideas, facts, public domain works, words, names, slogans, government works such as judicial opinions and works created by federal employees as part of their job responsibilities.

If there is inaccurate information on this page, please send correction or comments to: pcheek@chesapeake.edu