| Copyright as Community Property |
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| Copyright and community property are both branches of property law. Although copyrights are created by federal law they are subject to some state law control as well. Copyright enforcement relies on state rules that are generally applicable to property. Under community property laws, a husband and wife become the co-owners of such property as may be owned or acquired by either spouse if and to the extent that such property falls within the definition of community property. A copyright work authored by a spouse during the marriage is community property. More... |
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| Copyright Statutory Formalities |
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| Copyright protection in the United States is automatic upon the fixation of an original work of authorship. The use of the copyright notice and the registration of a work are referred to as formalities, which are the procedural requirements for securing and maintaining full copyright protection, and were formerly requirements for copyright protection. Some of the most sweeping changes under the 1976 Copyright Act involve copyright formalities. More... |
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| The Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002 |
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| The Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002 (SWSA) allows the recording industry and small webcasters to negotiate lower webcasting royalty fees. The SWSA empowers SoundExchange, which is the recording industry's royalty collection clearinghouse, to enter into royalty rate agreements with small commercial and all noncommercial webcasters. More... |
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| Gray Market Goods and Recordation with Customs |
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| Many products sold in the United States are imported. Imported goods pass into the stream of commerce in the United States via a port of entry where the goods are subject to inspection by the United States Customs Service (Customs). U.S. businesses constantly face the problem of counterfeit or piratical imports coming into the country being sold at lower prices, which erodes profits and may even damage the reputation of their products in the marketplace. U.S. law protects intellectual property owners from such imports. More... |
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| Publication |
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| Publication was the key to obtaining federal copyright under the Copyright Act of 1909. Publication is still important to copyright owners but it is no longer the key. Publication is defined in the Copyright Act of 1976 as "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 offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display constitutes publication. A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication." More... |
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