Copyright Act

The Copyright Act sets out the scope and extent to which expression is protectable under U.S. law. Under copyright law, ideas are not protectable but the expression of those ideas are. Copyright law gives the owner of the copyright five exclusive rights: the rights to reproduce, distribute, create derivative works, publicly perform, and publicly display the work. The Copyright Act defines these terms and sets out certain statutory exceptions to a copyright owner's exclusive rights as well as setting forth the penalties for copyright infringement. The Legal Information Institute provides Title 17 of the US Code, which encompasses the Copyright Act. The United States is also a member of the international Berne Convention on copyright.