Up until recently, a physically registered copyright was required for legal protection of your work. Under modern intellectual property law, however, a work is considered copyrighted the moment it is placed in fixed form.
What is the modern intellectual property law for copyright?
Modern copyright law was created by and large through the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. The Berne Convention is a worldwide agreement that dictates that copyright is formed the moment a literary or artistic work is placed into fixed form. In addition, other countries must honor the copyrights of international authors the same way they honor the copyrights of their own citizens.
What is a fixed work?
A fixed work is any physical form for a creative work. For instance, a book printed onto paper or even published online. For artistic works, everything from sculptures to paintings and even photos and videos are considered fixed form under modern copyright law. For those in the music industry, both recordings and musical scores are copyrighted. For those creating blogs or computer programs, their code is by and large protected under copyright law. The general rule is that if others can see it or read it, then it is in a physical form.
Who is given the copyright?
Under modern copyright law, only the original creator is granted the copyright for their work. This means the original artist, author or musician. There are some exceptions to this copyright law. For example, if you were paid to create your work for a third party business, such as a sales flier, then the sales flier and its copyright belongs to the business, not the creator.
Are there any benefits to an actual copyright?
Obtaining a physical copyright document guarantees your legal protection and may entitle you to damages in court should someone violate your copyright. Specifically, copyright violators are liable for no less than $750 dollars and no more than $30,000 for each violation under modern statutory law. For willful violations, the damages can be as much as $150,000 per infringement.