COPYRIGHTS

A copyright provides an owner with the exclusive rights to reproduce a certain work for a specified period, subject to some basic limits. The term of a copyright is the lifetime of the author plus 50 years in the case of identifiable, living authors. Copyrights arise automatically and are inexpensive to register.

Searching for a prior copyright is probably unnecessary. Copyright infringement can be avoided by establishing that a work was independently created. Therefore, records showing independent creation are helpful to avoid liability. Even with such records, establishing independent creation may be difficult if the original work was widely disseminated or otherwise available to the alleged infringer. In one such case, the court held that, although copying may have been unconscious, the original was nevertheless infringed.

One of the limits to copyright protection is that ideas (compared to expressions) and technology (computer software aside) are generally not protected. This means that our inventor is free, at least as far as copyright laws are concerned, to use any information that can be found in books on mousetrap designs and to make and sell working copies of anything shown or described. Copyright gives the owner only the right to prevent reproduction of the text or drawings themselves.

What if the inventor wants to use some of that text, for example, in an advertisement? There is a remote possibility that such use might be protected under the "fair use" defense, but it would be very unwise to proceed without getting permission from the copyright holder or seeking expert advice.