What is the Copyright Act of 1976?

The Copyright Act of 1976 is a United States copyright law that outlines the basic principles of copyright protection. It is a federal law that was passed in 1976 as part of the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17 of the United States Code). The Act grants authors and creators exclusive rights in their work for a limited amount of time. The Act also grants authors the right to control how their work is used in the future. This includes reproduction, distribution, performance, and display of copyrighted works. The Copyright Act of 1976 is based on two main principles: the idea-expression dichotomy and the fair use doctrine. The idea-expression dichotomy divides a work into two parts: the idea and the expression. A copyright can protect the expression of an idea, but not the idea itself. The fair use doctrine states that limited use of copyrighted material is allowed without it being considered infringement. The Copyright Act of 1976 applies to all works of authorship, whether published or unpublished, fixed in a tangible form of expression. This includes all types of intellectual property, such as books, songs, plays, drawings, photographs, and software. In Montana, a copyright must be registered with the United States Copyright Office before it can be enforced.

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What is the Copyright Act of 1976?

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