Copyright as Community Property

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.

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property is merely a special class of property that differs from ordinary personal or real property that you can see or touch; the only real difference is that intellectual property is created by the property owner's mind. Various statutes, both state and federal, have been enacted to protect the rights of intellectual property owners in their property.

Copyrights and Fair Use

A copyright is a property right granted by federal law to authors or creators of original works such as writings, art, music and sound recordings, performances, photographs, movies, and the like. The copyright holder has the exclusive right to reproduce or copy the work, distribute or sell the work, or perform or display the work publicly. The copyright holder may also authorize others to use the work in those same ways.

Right to Perform Copyrighted Work

Under the Copyright Act, to perform a copyrighted work means "to recite, render, play, dance, or act it, either directly or by means of any device or process." "Performing" a motion picture or other audiovisual work means "to show its images in any sequence or to make the sounds accompanying it audible." The Copyright Act defines the term "publicly perform" to mean "to perform or display [a copyrighted work] at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered." "To perform or display" includes to broadcast to such place open to the public. Therefore, performances in concert halls, theaters, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and other common public facilities are covered by the exclusive right of performance, whether the performance is live or broadcast to the public place, while the viewing of a movie in a private home is not a public performance and thus is not covered by the right of performance.

Reproduction Rights

The reproduction right is one of the exclusive rights granted to the owner of a copyright by the Copyright Act. Under this right, no one other than the copyright owner may make any reproductions or copies of the work. Under the Copyright Act the copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work or to authorize its reproduction. Examples of unauthorized acts which are prohibited under this right include photocopying a book, copying a computer software program, using a cartoon character on a T-shirt, and incorporating a portion of another's song into a new song. The Copyright Act covers reproduction in any form.