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The copyright laws of the United States are complex, and can be incredibly confusing when it comes to works in the public domain. In order to further determine how the public domain works in this country, it is first necessary to understand the basic definitions involved in copyright law and how they apply to artistic works and all other property of artists, musicians, writers and any other creative individuals and entities.

Copyright is a type of protection that is provided by the laws of the U.S. under title 17 of U.S. code. Simply put, it is protection given to authors, artists, composers, musicians and all others producing original works that are deemed to be "original works of authorship." Included in this body of work are all dramatic, literary, musical, artistic and some other types of intellectual properties. Copyright protection does not only apply to published works, but also to any unpublished items that fall into the aforementioned categories.

The cost of buying the rights to use copyrighted music and other creative pieces varies. For example, the cost of buying royalty free music can be comparatively very inexpensive, whereas the cost of buying the rights to larger pieces of music from major music providers such as BMI or ASCAP can be much more exorbitant and on-going for those looking to use them for extended periods of time.

Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act in the United States allows the owner of the copyright for a given work the exclusive ability to do and allow others to do the following things with the piece: reproduce the work in copies of any sort; prepare imitative or derivative works based upon the original; distribute copies made of the work in a variety of formats; perform the work or its derivative works publicly; publicly display the work or its derivatives; perform the work publicly through a transmission on radio, television, etc. in the case of any sound works.

There have been several amendments to the original 1976 law for visual artists and others, but in general, the above information describes the very basic foundation for the law. The Internet has brought about confusion in Copyright Law because of the availability of music files and the ability of authors to publish articles and other creative pieces online. On top of technological confusion to copyright issues, Copyright Law is by no means unlimited and does not necessarily apply across the board to every creative piece in existence. Therefore, there are many gray areas to be taken into consideration when artists, musicians and writers begin the process of sharing and exposing their own works.

The next obvious question to answer about copyright is - who exactly can claim copyright? Copyright protection begins from the moment a work is created in a solidified, final form. This means that the copyright of the piece of music, literary or dramatic work, visual artwork or document belongs to the work's creator immediately upon completion. Only the person (or in some cases people) directly involved in the creation of the piece or work of art can claim the rights associated with copyright for it. An example of the licensing and copyright protection for Award Winning Music's pieces of royalty free music can be found here . When a person buys any type of music, even this royalty free music, he/she is bound by the specific license and copyright laws attached to that piece of music.

In the instance that a work is a "work for hire" piece, the employer and not the creator of the piece/employee is the owner its copyright. Section 101 of the copyright law basically states that a work for hire is a work prepared for hire by an employee as part of his/her work contract or a work commissioned for use as one of the following items: part of a collected work; part of a motion picture or any other audio/visual work; a translation; a supplement; part of a compilation; a text used for instruction; answer material for a test or exam; a test or exam; work for an atlas.

The previously mentioned rules apply mainly to published works. For unpublished works, copyright law is slightly different. The great thing about United States Copyright Law for unpublished works is that it is available for any unpublished creative work, regardless of the author's nationality. However, for published works to be eligible for United States copyright protection, a work only has to meet one of the following circumstances: on the first publication date, at least one of the authors has to be a national or a resident of the U.S.; the work has to be published first in the U.S. or in a foreign nation that is a treaty party to the U.S. (this applies to sound works as well); the piece is a picture, sculpture or architectural structure that is permanently located in the United States or in a building that is physically located in the United States; the piece is first published by the United Nations or any of its sub-agencies, or by the Organization of American States; the work is a foreign work that was in the public domain in the United States prior to 1996 and has been granted restored copyright protection; the piece is related to a Presidential proclamation in some way.

There are many types of works that are protected under U.S. copyright law. They include musical works, including lyrics, literary works, pantomimes and choreographed works, dramatic works and all their musical accompaniments, graphic, pictoral works and pieces of sculpture, sound recordings, motion pictures and any other pieces that include both audio and visual components and architectural structures. Thanks to burgeoning and ever-changing technology, these categories have become extremely broad, and are constantly being re-defined. For example, computer software programs are often included in the "literature" category.

With so many things covered by U.S. Copyright Law, there are a surprising number of works that are not covered. The following are only a few of those items: works that have not been recorded or written down in any way, from every category of expression; titles, names, short slogans and any other familiar designs or typographical symbols; ideas, concepts, methods and any other elements that are not in and of themselves descriptive (in other words - they cannot stand alone without explanation); works that consist totally of common property information, such as height and weight charts, calendars, etc. Many of the works and items that do not fall under the list of things eligible for copyright protection are items that are part of the public domain.

These definitions and descriptions merely scratch the surface of Copyright Law for the United States and the complexity of its relationship to the public domain.

An Introduction to Copyright Laws for the United States Confirming and Documenting Public Domain Status Creative Commons Licenses Royalty Free Music and the Public Domain Composers Radio Film Television Fair Use Basic Rules of Fair Use The Considerations of Fair Use The Definition of Fair Use

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