If created as a work for hire for a company or any other legal entity, the work has copyright protection that lasts for 95 years from the date it was first published or a term of 120 years from the year it was created, whichever expires first. When can I use works that are not mine? The usage of works that are not your own is subject to copyright law and various usage rights. In general, you can use works that are not yours when you have obtained permission from the copyright holder, or when your use falls under certain exceptions or limitations to copyright law, such as fair use (in some jurisdictions) for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. - in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and - in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission. How long does copyright protection last? The length of the copyright protection varies depending on the date of first publication or creation. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, all registered works created after January 1, 1978 are protected all throughout the author’s lifetime plus an additional 70 years. Brand protection, counterfeits and unfair competition are areas of concerns for artists and companies in Florida and Nationwide. What type of clients do you work with and what sort of copyright issues do you help your clients within Florida and across the US? We help, business owners, entrepreneurs, artists and content creators. The sort of copyright issues we encounter are copyright protection and enforcement. Who is the copyright owner and what rights does copyright provide? Very often, we get asked this question about who owns the copyrights. The simple answer is the person, that is, a human, who creates the work, whether a photograph, a lyric, or a play. The owner of copyright has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following: - to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords; - to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work; - to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending; - in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly; WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM 57 Augusto Perera, ESQ Augusto Perera, PA
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