Copyright

Copyright is a form of intellectual property law that exists fairly uniformly around the world. Copyright is an exclusive property grant on creative works granted to authors of those works for a period set by law, after which the work is no longer protected by copyright and becomes public domain. The term length and conditions for copyright vary.

United States

In the United States, the law continues to evolve. As a result of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (CMCA), copyright lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years (or 95 years for works of corporate authorship).<ref name=FindLawDMCA-Cooley>Cooley Godward Kronish LLP (1 December 1998), The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Other Recent Copyright Law Changes</ref?Copyrightable works generally include books, audio recordings, film and video, drawings and sometimes works of architecture.

History of U.S. Copyright

A major revision in 1976 clarified many issues, addressed the issues of copyright in new media, and established the Copyright Tribunal for judging disputes.

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 dealt with a number of issues, especially of concern to entertainment companies.