Copyright is a form of intellectual property protection given to creators of “original works of authorship”, which includes literary, dramatic, musical, audio-visual, artistic and other works.
Important to remember is that copyright protects the form of expression, but not the subject matter of the expression or the idea in the expression.
The Copyright Act of 1976 gives the copyright owner the exclusive right to reproduce the work, to prepare what are called “derivative works”, to distribute copies of the work and to perform the work publicly (in the case of dramatic and musical works). In the event of copyright infringement, those rights are enforced exclusively in the United States District Court.
We assist copyright owners in all aspects of copyright law, from determining ownership at the creation of the work, to registration, renewal, licensing, assignment and infringement. We have represented both plaintiffs and defendants in copyright infringement litigation.