Copyright and Author Rights

Copyright is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression. In copyright law, there are a lot of different types of works, including paintings, photographs, illustrations, musical compositions, sound recordings, computer programs, books, poems, blog posts, movies, architectural works, plays, and so much more!

-Copyright.gov

Section 106 of the Copyright Law of the United States, describes exclusive rights in copyrighted works.

Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:

1. to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
2. to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
3. to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
4. in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;
5. in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and
6. in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission

Use of Copyrighted Materials

• Copyright Term and the Public Domain
• Copyright Renewals Database
• A Framework for Analyzing Any US Copyright Problem
• Fair Use Checklist
• Fair Use Calculator
• Copyright slider: Is it protected by copyright?
• Center for the Study of the Public Domain (selection of materials entering the public domain on January 1, each year)

Creation of Copyrighted Materials

• Getting Started with Creative Commons
• Why register your copyright?

• UNLV Patent and Trademark Resource Center
• UNLV Copyright Information
• Digital and Media Copyright Compliance
• Copyright Statements for Course Syllabi
• UNLV Law Library Copyright Page
• Special Collections and Archives
• Webcampus Toolkit: Integrating Library Resources Into WebCampus