What are the key provisions of the copyright Act?

Asked by: Paige Wolf  |  Last update: February 18, 2026
Score: 4.7/5 (33 votes)

The U.S. Copyright Act grants creators exclusive rights to their original works, including reproduction, distribution, public performance/display, and creating derivative works, while protecting ideas but not expression, defining ownership (often employer/author), setting duration (life + 70 years), and providing exceptions like fair use for educational or transformative purposes, balancing creator control with public access.

What are the main provisions of copyright law?

U.S. copyright law provides copyright owners with the following exclusive rights: Reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. Prepare derivative works based upon the work. Distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending.

What are the 5 key elements of copyright?

This overview will introduce you to copyright through five key concepts: Work, Ownership, Infringement, Exceptions, and Balance.

What are the four factors under the copyright fair use Act?

The four factors for determining fair use in copyright are: the purpose and character of the use (transformative, educational vs. commercial), the nature of the copyrighted work (factual vs. creative), the amount and substantiality of the portion used, and the effect of the use on the potential market for the original work, with no single factor being decisive, requiring a holistic balancing test. 

What are the key provisions of the Civil Rights Act?

This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. It was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

Intellectual Property Law Explained | Copyrights, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, & Patents

18 related questions found

What are the main provisions of the Protection of Civil Rights Act?

Civil Rights under Indian Constitution

Article 14-18 contains the right to equality provision. These articles influence equality based on faith, opportunity in employment, and demolishment of untouchability. Article 17 aims to demolish untouchability in India. “Untouchability” is an illegal offence under the law.

What are the six major provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

  • 4.1 Title I – voting rights.
  • 4.2 Title II – public accommodations.
  • 4.3 Title III – desegregation of public facilities.
  • 4.4 Title IV – desegregation of public education.
  • 4.5 Title V – Commission on Civil Rights.
  • 4.6 Title VI – nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs.
  • 4.7 Title VII – equal employment opportunity.

What are the 4 pillars of copyright?

The four pillars of intellectual property law consist of copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets.

What are five laws of copyright?

The five fundamental rights that the bill gives to copyright owners-the exclusive rights of reproduction, adaptation, publication, performance, and display-are stated generally in section 106.

What are the three basic requirements for copyright protection?

In all countries, there are two requirements for copyright protection: originality and protectable "expression." In a few countries, there is also a third requirement: that the "work" for which an author seeks protection have been "fixed" in a tangible medium of expression.

What are the key principles of copyright?

Copyright grants a set of exclusive rights to copyright holders, which means that no one else can copy, distribute, publicly perform, adapt, or do almost anything else other than simply view or read the work without permission of the copyright holder.

What are 5 things that can be copyrighted?

Five things that can be copyrighted are literary works (like books/software), musical works, dramatic works, pictorial/graphic/sculptural works (photos, paintings, sculptures), and audiovisual works (movies, videos). Copyright protects original expressions of ideas, not the ideas themselves, covering a wide range of creative content fixed in a tangible form.
 

What is the rule of five in copyright?

CONTU Guidelines and the "Rule of Five"

Its provisions include: A library ("user") may request up to five articles from a single periodical per year from issues published within the last five years.

What are the three things not protected by copyright?

Three categories of items not protected by copyright include ideas, methods, and systems, names, titles, and short phrases/slogans, and works of the U.S. government, as copyright protects original expressions fixed in a tangible form, not concepts or public domain material. Other examples include facts, common information, functional designs, and unrecorded performances. 

What are the fair use provisions of copyright law?

About Fair Use

Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use.

What are the five exclusive rights of copyright?

General Scope of Copyright.

The five fundamental rights that the bill gives to copyright owners—the exclusive rights of reproduction, adaptation, publication, performance, and display—are stated generally in section 106.

What are the provisions of copyright?

Ans. The Copyright Act 1957 is India's main law that protects the rights of creators of books, music, films, art, software, and other original works. Ans. It protects literary, musical, artistic, dramatic works, cinematograph films, sound recordings, computer programs, and architectural designs.

What are the basic copyright laws?

Under the Copyright Act, a copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce, adapt, distribute, publicly perform, and publicly display the work (or to authorize others to do so). In the case of sound recordings, the copyright owner has the right to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

What are 5 facts about copyright?

Below are 10 facts about copyright you should know.

  • Copyright protects the expression of ideas, not ideas. ...
  • Copyright protects works. ...
  • Copyright protects original works. ...
  • Copyright has exceptions. ...
  • Copyright protects economic and moral rights. ...
  • Copyright exists automatically.

What is the golden rule of copyright?

We're all probably familiar with the saying, "If it's not yours, don't touch it." Copyright laws adhere to the same philosophy: the golden rule is to obtain the express permission from the owner, creator, or holder of the copyrighted material. Unless you're the creator of the work, you're not allowed to use it.

What three things may be included in a copyright notice?

A copyright notice should contain all the following three elements:

  • The symbol © (the letter C in a circle), the word “Copyright” or the abbreviation “Copr.”
  • The year when the work was first created.
  • The name of the owner of the copyright.

What are the two main purposes of the copyright Designs and patents Act?

One of the primary aims of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 was to provide increased protection against piracy for authors of 'new media' artistic works such as films and sound recordings. The Act also aimed to incentivise investment in designs by revolutionising the law of industrial design.

What are the key provisions of the 1964 Act?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial segregation in public accommodations including hotels, restaurants, theaters, and stores, and made employment discrimination illegal.

What is the 14th Amendment?

Passed by the Senate on June 8, 1866, and ratified two years later, on July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws,” extending the provisions of ...

What does Title VII prohibit?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as amended, protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.