Copyright

A copyright gives the owner the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license his work. The owner also receives the exclusive right to produce or license derivatives of his or her work.Limited exceptions to this exclusivity exist fortypes of "fair use", such as book reviews. To be covered by copyright a work must be originaland in a concrete "medium of expression." Under current law, works are covered whether or not a copyright notice is attached and whether or not the work is registered.
The U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101 - 810, is Federal legislation enacted by Congress under its Constitutional grant of authority to protect the writings ofauthors. Changing technology has led to an ever expanding understanding of the word "writings". The Copyright Act now reaches architectural design, software, the graphic arts, motion pictures, and sound recordings. Given the scope of the Federal legislation and its provision precluding inconsistent state law, the field is almost exclusively a Federal one.