Copyright protects a person's unique way of expressing something. Only a minimum amount of creativity is necessary to obtain copyright status. Copyright does not protect underlying ideas or facts. Copyright protection is automatic and no longer requires a copyright notice. Registration of one's copyright is not required unless the owner desires to initiate litigation at a future date. The benefit to registering a copyright is the availability of statutory damages and attorney's fees in an infringement case.

Today, copyright begins at the moment of fixation in a tangible medium of expression and ends at the expiration of 70 years after the death of the author. Different rules apply to older works (see chart), however, and there are special rules for works-for-hire.

Owners have exclusive rights to make copies, create derivative works, distribute, display and perform works publicly.

To use a copyrighted work, one must first ask whether the work is protected by the Copyright Act, and if so, whether it is the user's intent to exercise one of the owner's exclusive rights. Examples of an intent to utilize an owner's rights include:

1. Making a copy (reproducing a work);
2. Using the work as the basis for a new work (derivative work); and/or
3. Electronically distributing or publishing copies (distributing a work).

When is a use exempt or excused from liability for infringement?

If a user is unable to find an exemption that excuses infringement and eliminates the need for permission, "fair use" may allow one to utilize materials in the absence of permission from the author or publisher. If the materials are not subject to the fair use exemption, a user must obtain permission of the author or publisher before exercising an owner's exclusive rights.

If the law protects a work, the user must ask permission from the copyright owner unless the planned use is covered by one of the law's exemptions. The exception users will most likely encounter is "fair use" found at 17 U.S.C. 107.