Article Copyright 1: Definition & Features

Copyright is the exclusive right to reproduce, publish and sell the content and form of a literary or art work. (Here, “literary or art” is broadly defined and therefore includes scholarly articles, as well).

Before submitting your paper to a journal, you should consider two important things about copyright. First, if your article contains descriptions, figures, or other materials that has already been published elsewhere, you must obtain permission unless you have the copyright.

Second, you usually have to transfer the copyright of your article to the journal (or for some journals, transferring limited rights while still maintaining the copyright).

What is Copyright?

Copyright is the exclusive right to reproduce, publish and sell the content and form of a literary or art work. (Here, “literary or art” is broadly defined and therefore includes scholarly articles).

Copyright is the legal term for the set of rights that a creator gains over a work when they create it, and the body of law surrounding those rights. It used to be that in order to gain such rights, you had to take specific actions, such as affixing a copyright notice to your work, and, in many countries, registering the work with the government, or with an organization granted the right to issue copyrights by the government. A work for which such actions had been taken was copyrighted, and works for which such actions had not been taken were not.

You will be the copyright owner for 50 years as long as you have not provided the research paper to an employer or have not received money for doing a research work.

If the research is done in collaboration with several researchers, each person will be the joint copyright owner with equal rights.

Copyright Features

1. Copyright is divisible. The copyright holder may assign a non-exclusive right to reproduce or republish a work to another person.
2. Copyright is also transferable. A copyright owner’s exclusive rights (either in whole or in part) can be transferred to another party, but it must be in writing and signed by the copyright owner to be considered valid.
3. Copyright is an intangible property which lasts for only a limited period of time: Copyrights are a form of intangible property, as they confer certain rights to their owners that are not perceivable through the physical senses. Small-business owners often need to manage a variety of intangible assets, which can copyrights.
4. Copyright restricts unauthorized use of any sort of work: Copyright gives the sole right the owner to produce/reproduce the piece of their original work.
5. Copyright protection is automatic: As of January 1, 1978, under US copyright law, a work is automatically protected by copyright when it is created. Specifically, “A work is created when it is “fixed” in a copy or phonorecord for the first time.” you do not have to register, and you do not have to affix a copyright notice. So, all eligible works are copyrighted.
6. Copyright can be sued: It permits the right to sue an infringer in federal court, in case the owner holds a copyright which is obtained after registration. The copyright owner has the right to oppose any offender who claims the ownership of that particular work.
7. Copyright creates financial benefits: Another advantage is benefiting by selling or transferring the copyright. In case any third party wants the copyright then the initial owner has the privilege of deciding whether to sell/transfer the copyright or not. A Copyright registration enables financial benefits by the licensing the piece of the original work.

Copyright Act of 1976

The Copyright Act of 1976 is a United States copyright law and remains the primary basis of copyright law in the United States, as amended by several later enacted copyright provisions. The Act spells out the basic rights of copyright holders, codified the doctrine of “fair use,” and for most new copyrights adopted a unitary term based on the date of the author’s death rather than the prior scheme of fixed initial and renewal terms. It became Public Law number 94-553 on October 19, 1976 and went into effect on January 1, 1978.

“Fair use” of copyright-protected materials and works is legal under the Copyright Act of 1976. This law allows you to copy and distribute small portions of a copyright-protected work, but you are not allowed to copy complete articles and republish them without permission for both profit and non-profit use.

Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

This item is to be updated …