Copyright Law

Trademark is a better protector of corporate identity, by protecting company names, logos, and slogans.

The penalties for this can be rather stiff. A mid-western church years ago was fined $1 Million dollars (USD) for copying copyrighted music to use for their church choir. That action made lots of other churches think twice before churning out copied music for their own libraries.

The purpose of the copyright is pretty clear ... it is meant to protect the writers best interests ... this is how they make a living, feed and clothe their families - that is their right, and most people respect that.

In the United States copyright law is almost exclusively handled in federal district courts, other than copyright of sound recordings published prior to 1972 and other possible issues that are handled under state laws because they are not pre-empted by the federal laws.

Pictures (paintings, photographs, etc) are protected by copyright, for the life of the creator plus 50 years in most countries; the US and others have extended this to life plus 70 years. This means only the creator can copy, alter, distribute, or display the work, or authorize others to do so.

If your new design is too similar to an existing logo, especially if your companies do similar things, your logo could be refused by the copyright office, or you could be sued by the original logo holder.

For example, the Apple computer company had an apple as its logo. The Beatles recording company also had an apple as its logo. The two could have been in contention but the companies didn't do the same thing and were on different continents.

That didn't save them from court battles however. The Beatles made it clear that if Apple ever got into the recording industry, their logo would be a problem. When Apple added sound to their operating system (besides that old computer "beep"), they called the new sound "Sosumi"... So Sue Me.

When iTunes was developed, Apple Computers and Apple Records spent a lot of time negotiating what would happen; that's why it took so long for iTunes to be able to offer the Beatles catalog.

It has not been necessary for a copyright symbol to be placed on a protected work since 1989. However, the copyright symbol can go anywhere on a qualifying work. There is no requirement for a work to be registered to use the © symbol or official copyright notice.

O Fortuna would be considered a "common phrase" and is not eligible for copyright protection. So whether or not is it "public domain" is a moot point. It may, however, be registered as a trademark.

The musical piece "O Fortuna", a movement in the Carmina Burana cantata was written by German composer Carl Orff. He died in 1982, so the piece will not fall into place until 2052, 70 years after his death.

Infringing someone's intellectual property rights is a federal crime; copyright infringement, for example, is punishable by fines up to $250,000. But more significantly, the intent of intellectual property protection is to encourage creation of new works by making it financially viable to create for a living.

Trademark is important to respect, because if anyone can use another company's name or logo, the consumer doesn't know what he or she is getting. Trademark is just as much about protecting the consumer as it is about protecting business.

If it is no longer protected because the copyright has expired or been voluntarily terminated by the author it is said to reside in the public domain. In terms of software that is written intentionally without copyright protection it is referred to as "open-source"

It's often challenging to identify and contact the rightsholder. If there is no indication on or around the image, check in the metadata. If there is still no indication of ownership, use a service such as TinEye to locate other instances of that image, and see if they have any copyright information.

If you can get the photographer's name, you may be able to get contact information from a professional association database. Even services such as WhitePages can be helpful.

If you are unable to identify or locate the rightsholder, you cannot use the material. There is no exception for "orphan works" in the law.

The five basic rights that copyright confers to the holder of the copyright are...

The right to reproduce the work
The right to create derivatives
The right to distribute copes to the public
The right to perform the work publicly
The right to display the work publicly

Please note that these rights are not absolute; there are exceptions (most notably the "fair use" doctrine), but generally, it is best to respect a person's copyright and not attempt to use their unique material without their consent.

"an object that has a meaning" is rather a curious turn of phrase. If you mean a sculpture, an object with a symbolic meaning, it would be protected by copyright as soon as it is fixed in a tangible medium. A patent would be more appropriate for a new type of object with a useful function.

From: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-register.html#register
How do I register my copyright?
To register a work, submit a completed application form, a nonrefundable filing fee of $45, and a nonreturnable copy or copies of the work to be registered. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section

no

The copyright sign is a C with a circle around it. It means that whatever the sign is on, you may not copy it under any circumstances

Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation. They are protected by Patent & Trademark laws. Bear in mind however that the expression of those ideas, systems, etc may be protected by copyright.

In the US, the copyright holder can sue for up to $30,000 per infringement, or $150,000 if willfull infringement is proven. That being said, most copyright disagreements are settled long before they reach court, for an amount much closer to real damages.

It depends upon a number of factors, primarily the country in which something is created or published, when it was created or published, and whether the author is a citizen or resident of any country that subscribes to the Bern Convention or any other treaty on copyrights.

In the USA, for example, the rules change for US publications depending upon whether they were created or published before or after 1923, 1963, 1972, 1978, 1989 and 1996, among others. As a general rule, however, things created after 1989 are automatically protected for 95 years from the moment they are "fixed in a tangible form", things published prior to 1923 are not copyrighted and the answer for everything in the middle or for unpublished prior to 1989, is more complicated (copyright notice, renewal, date of author's death, etc).

No; it is controlled by the Weill Foundation.

Copyright gives the creator of a work the exclusive right to copy, alter, distribute, or perform/display a work, or authorize others to do so, for a limited time. Once that time has expired, the work enters the public domain and can be used by anyone, for any purpose, without permission.

You hold the copyright to anything that you create. Even your unpublished manuscript is protected. Before you could bring any kind of lawsuit you would have to formally register the copyright.

Anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed. In addition, an infringer of a work may also be liable for the attorney's fees incurred by the copyright owner to enforce his or her rights

There is also a potential for up to 10 years in prison for criminal copyright infringement although criminal charges are rarely brought.