C O P Y R I G H T S
7.3
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Finally, to receive copyright protec-
tion, a work must be the result of at
least some creative effort on the part
of its author. There is no hard and fast
rule as to how much creativity is
enough. As one example, a work must
be more creative than a telephone
book’s white pages, which involve a
straightforward alphabetical listing of
telephone numbers rather than a cre-
ative selection of listings.
Does copyright protect an
author’s creative ideas?
No. Copyright shelters only fixed,
original and creative expression, not
the ideas or facts upon which the ex-
pression is based. For example, copy-
right may protect a particular song,
novel or computer game about a ro-
mance in space, but it cannot protect
the underlying idea of having a love
affair among the stars. Allowing au-
thors to monopolize their ideas would
thwart the underlying purpose of
copyright law, which is to encourage
people to create new work.
For similar reasons, copyright does
not protect facts—whether scientific,
historical, biographical or news of the
day. Any facts that an author discovers
in the course of research are in the
public domain, free to all. For in-
stance, anyone is free to use informa-
tion included in a book about how the
brain works, an article about the life
and times of Neanderthals or a TV
documentary about the childhood of
President Clinton—provided that they
express the information in their own
words.
Facts are not protected even if the
author spends considerable time and
effort discovering things that were
previously unknown. For example, the
author of the book on Neanderthals
takes ten years to gather all the neces-
sary materials and information for her
work. At great expense, she travels to
hundreds of museums and excavations
around the world. But after the book
is published, any reader is free to use
the results of this ten-year research
project to write his or her own book
on Neanderthals—without paying the
original author.
How long does a copyright last?
For works published after 1977, the
copyright lasts for the life of the author
plus 70 years. However, if the work is a
work for hire (that is, the work is done
in the course of employment or has
been specifically commissioned) or is
published anonymously or under a
pseudonym, the copyright lasts be-
tween 95 and 120 years, depending on
the date the work is published.
All works published in the United
States before 1923 are in the public
domain. Works published after 1922,
but before 1964, are protected for 95
years from the date of publication if a
renewal was filed with the Copyright
Office during the 28th year after pub-
lication. If no renewal was filed, such
works are in the public domain in the
U.S. Works published during 1964-
1977 are protected for 95 years
whether or not a renewal was filed. If
the work was created, but not pub-
lished, before 1978, the copyright
lasts for the life of the author plus 70
years. However, even if the author
died over 70 years ago, the copyright
in an unpublished work lasts until De-