No content on this guide should be construed as legal advice.
Content on this page is adapted from "Copyright Services LibGuide" by Cornell University licensed under CC BY 4.0.
United States copyright law (Title 17 of the United States Code) grants exclusive rights and protections to copyright holders while providing exemptions for certain uses of copyrighted works.
Copyright law sets out to promote progress by securing time-limited exclusive rights for creators (paraphrased from Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 or the US Constitution).
Copyright law protects original, creatives works. This covers a wide swath of expressions, extending over literary and artistic works. Copyright protects: literary works, music, art, film, collections, databases, software, and more. In the U.S., works must be in a fixed form to by copyrighted. ("Fixed form" means the creative work is tangible.) A work does not need to the copyright symbol (©) to be protected.
Facts, ideas, names, slogans, titles, concepts, and systems cannot be copyrighted (e.g., the list of ingredients in a recipe).
In the U.S., copyright is set for a fixed amount of time. During its duration, the copyright holder is entitled to six exclusive rights: