Term of copyright is for the life of the creator plus 70 years.
Copyright is free, instantaneous and automatic for your creative works of authorship, at least in the USA and over 160 countries in the Berne Union. You may optionally register your ownership in the US Copyright Office for $35.
Under US Copyright Law, copyright attaches as soon as a work is created, whether published or not. Published or unpublished works do not need to be "signed" to fall under copyright protection because the creation of a work already establishes copyright ownership.
Yes, under US copyright laws, creative works of authorship by officers or employees of the federal government have no copyright, making them public domain. However, not everything published by the US government was created by the federal government and other authors or publishers may retain copyright ownership. For example, an author could license the US to publish something or the US could contract to have some work created, where the independent contractor owns the copyright.
Copyright ownership is free, instantaneous and automatic in any country that follows the Berne Convention, including the USA. There is no "process" to obtain copyright other than simply putting your creative work of original authorship into a tangible form. Enforcement of copyright varies by which country you're in and the way they have implemented the treaties. The civil courts generally handle copyright infringement cases in which a copyright owners claims money for damages caused by infringement. Under US law, for example, you must first register your ownership in the US Copyright in order to have "official proof" of your ownership in court. You may also claim "statutory damages" of up to $150,000 for each copyrighted work that has been infringed. If the infringement is willful and for profit, it may also result in federal criminal charges, fines and up to 6 years in prison for a first offense.
Under US copyright law an independent author or artist must intentionally contract in writing to lose ownership of the copyright of his or her own creative works. A copyright in your own work of authorship is a personal right and should not be "automatically" transferred to (or "stolen" by) others.
US Copyright Group was created in 2010.
Under US copyright law, a copyright cannot be renewed after it expires. For works of US authors published in the US prior to 1963, copyright renewal had to be filed after 28 years.
The US Copyright Office is the governmental agency which oversees, administers, and records copyright in the United States.
Under the definition in the US copyright law: "Publication" is the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.
The original author of a creative work is automatically the owner of the copyright. If there are multiple authors of a jointly created work, they are automatically joint owners. Ownership can be transferred to others. In the USA it can only be done in a signed writing that is recorded in the US Copyright Office. The ownership of "works made for hire" varies slightly according to national laws. In the USA, for example, an employer is considered the "author" of works done by its employees and thus owns the copyrights. For independent contracts, however, the contractor is the legal author and owns the copyright unless there is a signed document in the proper form to the contrary result, granting "authorship" to the client. 17 USC § 101 Works made for hire - definitions.
Copyright fees in the US range from $30 USD to $220 USD.
If you're speaking specifically about the document, you would say the Copyright Act; talking about the law in general does not need to be capitalized."According to the US Copyright Act you owe me...""According to US copyright law, you owe me..."