Copyrights provide a foundation for a thriving creative economy. It is important that your creative works are protected because you deserve to be recognized for the hard work that you put into all of your creative ventures. In this post, we will discuss what copyrights are and how they protect your creative works.
Defining Copyrights
A copyright is any work of authorship that has been created in some way. Whether you are dealing with an oil painting, a written manuscript, an episode of a TV show, or the backing track of a song—all these creations could be copyrighted. So long as the work was created by a person, has a minimal level of creativity, and was created in a way that makes it somewhat “permanent,” it is copyright-able.
The moment someone creates a work, they become a copyright owner—even if they haven’t registered their work with the U.S. Copyright Office! Any copyright will last for the life of the author plus 75 years. By being a copyright owner, you can make/sell copies of your work, perform it live, make derivative works, and license others to do any of the previous acts.
Copyrights prevent others from copying your work—whether it be visual details from an art piece, exact verbiage from a novel, parts of music, or other aspects of your works. Copyrights are very specific and have a narrow scope of protection. Like trademarks, copyrights ensure that no one is misusing, misrepresenting, or profiting off your work/image without permission, but like patents, ownership of these rights expires at some point, allowing others to incorporate your creativity into future creations. When copyrights expire, a work is said to enter the public domain and may be freely used.
Protecting Your Copyrights
Your creative ventures deserve protection, and you deserve the credit for the hard work you invested. Unfortunately, there are times others want to benefit from your creative endeavors without your permission. This leads to a costly lawsuit that, without intellectual property litigation insurance, the burden falls to you to pay to protect your copyright. IPISC has years of experience insuring companies like yours so that your intellectual property is protected. If you have a copyright that is not insured, have a look at our enforcement insurance policy to help protect your copyright from those who would infringe on your intellectual property.
