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Copyrights
A Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. The 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly, or to display the copyrighted work publicly. A maximum copyright can be obtained for the authors life +75 years.
The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing. For example, a description of a machine could be copyrighted, but this would only prevent others from copying the description; it would not prevent others from writing a description of their own or from making and using the machine. Copyrights are registered by the Library of Congress copyright office in the United States.
There are many times when you might desire a combination of copyright, patent and trademark protection for your work. For specific guidance contact us so that you may speak with their contracted attorneys to determine what forms of intellectual property protection are best suited to your needs.
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