If you are
interested in finding out more about copyright law and your rights under that
law, you can tap into many helpful resources. Through this article, I will
provide you with a general overview of some of the resources to copyright law
in the 21st century.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS The
ultimate source of information about copyright law in the United States is the
Library of Congress. (Other countries in the world have similar governmental
agencies that implement and -- on some level -- enforce copyright laws in those
countries.)
Through the Library of Congress you can obtain essential
information pertaining to:
-- your rights (and obligations) under the
copyright law of the United States;
-- the Fair Use Doctrine which
allows a person to utilize a limited portion of copyrighted material (with
attribution) for specific purposes (normally related to academics or research);
-- and how to copyright your work with the Library of Congress;
You can access this information, and related materials, through the Library
of Congress either by visiting the institution in person (it is located
directly across the street from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.), by
telephone, or through the Library's user friendly website.
BOOKS
AND VIDEOS In recent years, many publishers have released a number
of books and videos that provide comprehensive information about copyright
laws. These books and videos can help a person who is interested in obtaining a
general background on copyright law. You can peruse the latest
books on copyright
here.
In addition, most writer's guides and similar types of
publications include a section that deals with copyright issues. Mostly, you
can find these books in most major booksellers -- both in the brick and mortar
world and on the Internet.
MAGAZINES Beyond books and
videos, a number of trade magazines (writing, photography, filmmaking and the
like) regularly carry informative feature stories on copyright law and the
latest developments in that area of the law. These articles are informative and
helpful to people in creative fields who've concerns about copyright related
issues.
THE INTERNET As with so many other "things" in
the 21st century, the Internet is a vast resource for anyone interested in
obtaining information about copyright law. For example, there are many websites
that provide basic and essential information about copyright law and copyright
related issues. One such website,
www.FreelanceWriting.com, offers a
Copyright Resource Section where you can find many websites
related to copyright law and copyrighting your material.
As mentioned
before, you can also access books, videos and other publications that deal with
copyright law and copyright issues over the Internet. And, once again, you can
access the Library of Congress and its important copyright resources over the
Net at
http://www.loc.gov.
