Copyright Law

The Song God Bless America was written by Irving Berlin and was "shelved" for 20 years. Kate Jackson asked Berlin for a song to sing and he gave it to her with the understanding he did not want money for the song. God helped him write it. He asked that the proceeds of the song go to the Boy Scouts of America.

It depends on the type of work and the country of origin.

In the US, current unpublished works are protected for the life of the creator plus 70 years, the same as a published work. This is not the case for pre-1977 unpublished works, which would be in the public domain.

The Berne Convention allows different term for films: "in the case of cinematographic works, the countries of the Union may provide that the term of protection shall expire fifty years after the work has been made available to the public with the consent of the author, or, failing such an event within fifty years from the making of such a work, fifty years after the making."

Fair use is a statutory or common law defense to infringement of copyright, which arises by determination that the alleged infringement does not harm the copyright owner and does not unfairly enrich the infringer.

Because laws lag behind technology so significantly, with each advance there is a period where everyone is essentially guessing what the legal applications will eventually be. Rightsholders--and, frankly, legislators--tend to attempt to apply existing laws to new technology they view as similar, even when it makes no sense at all; then when it comes time to update the law, they just slide the new device or process in the section they've decided applies. Laws relating to mp3s, for example, were written in 1919 in response to that great new technology the player piano.

Actually with the addition of architectural works there are eight...

1 literary works
2 musical works, including any accompanying words
3 dramatic works, including any accompanying music
4 pantomimes and choreographic works
5 pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
6 motion pictures and other audiovisual works
7 sound recordings
8 architectural works

PROTECTED UNLESS SAID Differently

The year of the encyclopedia is the year of the copyright; there are far too many editions to answer this question directly.

Yes; making a copy is one of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder, regardless of whether you sell the copy or not. Certain educational uses are exempt.

It may be worth noting that while the law is broken whether you sell the information or not, the law may provide for higher penalties if you do sell it.

Copyright does not protect names, titles, common words/phrases, facts, ideas, discoveries, systems, or methods of operation. It may, however, protect the way these things are expressed provided they meet the necessary criteria for copyright registration.

Under current US copyright law the factors necessary to make an infringement a criminal felony are set forth in Title 18 of the U.S. Code, and are determined by the extent of the infringement.

If the infringer has made, in any 180-day period, ten or more copies of one or more copyrighted works with a total retail value of $2,500 the the standard for felony prosecution has been met

there are none

Copyright law affects what I can do with creative works I encounter. I went to a concert last night, and the law prevented me from recording it and posting it to YouTube. I read an interesting blog post, and I emailed a link to someone instead of copying and pasting the content itself. I sent just someone to the rightsholder of some rare materials I am in possession of, to get permission to have a copy made.

On the other hand, if I were the creator of those works, copyright would affect me differently. If I were the band playing that concert, I would be able to license my recordings. If I were the blogger, I could authorize others to use my words, or not. If I were the rightsholder of the materials, I could charge a fee to allow a copy to be made.

Because formal registration is not required, it is often difficult to get complete information. In the US, records since 1978 are online at the link below, and certain disciplines (music, recording, film) have more functional databases as well, but none are complete.

Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule about this; the law mentions the "amount and subtantiality of the portion," and neither the courts nor the legislation have seen fit to clarify that. Fair use, at the moment, is being judged on whether the excerpt is "appropriate in kind and amount," and whether the use is transformative.

1. The purpose and character of use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes,
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantially of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

A strict definition of "Infringe" means to violate the legal rights of another. In terms of intellectual property it means using protected material in such a way the the rights of the creator are compromised. Specifically applied to copyright it means that one or more of the five basic rights of a creator (duplication, distribution, performance, display or the creation of derivatives) have been transgressed.

Unlike patents, trade secrets offer no period of exclusivity: if I figure out your trade secret, I can use it, fair and square.

Yes, it is very common to create a logo for identification of your brand. In US practice the mere "use in commerce" of the logo in association with your goods or services may give you some state and federal protection.

However, a registration (state or federal) will give you better protection, not to mention notice to the public of your claim to proprietary rights in the logo.

So, to answer your question, yes you can "put trademark" on a logo, which means you can enforce the logo as a trademark, or you can put "tm" on the logo, or you can register it and put the circle-R on the logo.

The Royal Road ran through what is now the Middle East. It was originally built by the Persian civilization.

Yes, it is. Remember that whatever you obtain from a library will have an author by all means reserved Copyrights and that is as illegal as Downloading music from the Internet.

No, the term "bootleg" means it was made without permission. Because its very existence is illegal, it is also illegal to sell it. Under some laws, such as the criminal law of the USA, if you intentionally sell a copyright infringement, it is a federal crime and you could face 3, 5 or 10 years in prison, and possibly millions of dollars in fines, depending upon whether you also try to pass it off as being authentic. 18 USC § 2318-2320.

Unfortunately there is no clear answer on how much of anything can be used without a license. Currently the courts are focusing on whether the use is transformative: taking a film intended for entertainment, and using a portion of it for commentary, for example.

It depends on when and where the work was created, the type of work, and more. Broadly speaking, most works are protected for the life of the creator plus at least 50 years (the US and some other countries have extended this to 70 years). Ultimately you will need to research each work individually to determine its status.

You may use copyright protected material when you are the copyright holder, or when you have permission from the rightsholder or an exemption in the law. The most notable exemption is fair use or fair dealing, which allows certain limited unlicensed uses in situations such as education and commentary.