The Copyright Act includes a number of rules governing the duration of a copyright term. A significant change to the Copyright Act occurred in 1998 with the enactment of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the copyright in all subsisting works for 20 years.
A copyright does not require any particular format for use. It is recommended, although not mandatory, that a copyright notice be included on all copies of the work. The copyright notice should be placed in a noticeable location, and a quick review of similar types of works would show conventional locations for placing the notice.
Registration of a copyright is straightforward and involves filling out a two-page form applicable to the work for which copyright is being applied. For commercial activities, the most commonly used forms are form “TX” (for “text”), which is used for works made up primarily of written text, and form “VA” (for “visual arts”), used for works that are made up primarily of pictures
Copyright covers a wide expanse of works, including: (1) literary works, such as books and articles; (2) musical works, which can be either the music or words, or both; (3) dramatic works, such as theatrical productions; (4) pantomimes and...
