Summer 2019 - 138

LEGAL CORNER
WHAT ARE
MY RIGHTS?
Understanding copyright
law as a creative
BY ANGIE AVARD TURNER, ESQ.
Contributing Writer
T
here are several facets to owning a creative
business. Often one thinks of taking care of
business licenses, incorporating, contracts,
insurance, websites, and social media. The one area that
gets overlooked by the creative, which is arguably the
most important, is their intellectual property. Without
their intellectual property, they would not have a creative
business, and without protecting their intellectual
property, they are putting their business at great risk.
Intellectual property is a legal term that most " normal "
people are not familiar with.
1. Trade Secrets: Protect ideas that cannot gain protections
through trademark, patent, or copyright
2. Trademarks: Protect brands, logos, slogans, and
taglines
3. Patents: Protect inventions
4. Copyrights: Protect all original works created by an
author/artist
Copyright law is an area that all creatives should
make it a priority to be familiar with. Just this year, the
Supreme Court ruled unanimously that in order to bring
an infringement suit, the copyright owner must have
registered the work AND must possess the registration
certificate before a suit may be filed. All of this means
that if someone is copying your work, you cannot do
anything unless you have taken proactive steps to
protect it.
There are several aspects of copyright law that must
be understood in light of the recent Supreme Court
ruling - first, what may be protected; second what are
copyright holders' rights; and third, how may these
rights be enforced.
138 SUMMER 2019
WHAT MAY BE PROTECTED
Copyright law protects " original works of authorship
fixed in a tangible express. " That is what the law states.
What does that mean, though? There are dozens of
areas that fall within the bounds of copyright law -
literary works, musical works, theatrical works, visual
art and sculptural works, video works, audio works, and
architectural works. As one can imagine, there are many
sub-categories within each of the seven areas.
COPYRIGHT OWNERS' RIGHTS
Once one has determined that there are works that
fall within one of the seven categories, it is important
to understand what rights the owner of the copyright
has. There are six exclusive rights that are afforded to a
copyright owner. Some of the rights pertain to specific
types of works.
1. To reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or
phonorecords; (owner can reproduce the work as
many times as they want)
2. To prepare derivative based upon the copyrighted
work; (owner can create new works that come from
that work)
3. 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; (owner
exclusively controls how the work is monetized)
4. In the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and
choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion
pictures and other audiovisual works to perform the
copyrighted work publicly; (owner controls how or if
the work is performed publicly)
Summer 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Summer 2019
