This creates some tension between copyright law and the work that librarians do. We should stay within the law, but that doesn’t mean surrendering to publisher scare tactics. In this book, we’ll show you how to do your job while staying within the boundaries of copyright law.
Copyright Defined
- Exclusive Rights
- Original Work
- Specified Time
First things first. The Copyright Act begins with definitions of about fifty words and phrases, but not the word “copyright.”[1] Subject to some limitations, a copyright is the exclusive ownership of and right to make use of an original literary, musical, or artistic work for a specified period of time.
Copyright is one part of what is called “intellectual property”, which also includes patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. Like copyrighted materials, patents and trademarks are protected by federal law. Patents apply to useful inventions (such as drugs or computer chips), while trademarks are names or logos used to market goods or services (such as Coca-Cola or Kleenex). State and federal laws protect a company’s trade secrets (such as Coca-Cola’s formula for Coke). Because patents, trademarks, and trade secrets have little impact on librarians’ work, the subject of our book is limited to copyrights.
- ↑ 17 U.S.C. § 101 (2006).
