Outline For Copyright Essay

Body paragraphs:

I. Main Point: Let’s begin by taking about what exactly is copyright, why it is important and how it differs from plagiarism.

a. What is copyright?

i. It is a legal form of protection, a federal law of the United States for the creators of “original works of authorship,” for a limited period of time.

1. Includes, literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works ii. Allows the author/creator or owner of an original work to exclusive rights

1. Reproduce or distribute original work

2. Create new works based on the original work

3. Perform or display the work publicly.

b. Why is copyright important?

i. Provides exclusive rights to authors to protect their work for a limited amount of time. ii. It promotes creativity and learning.

But there are exceptions to the protection given by copyright laws. For example: Superman comics cannot be reproduced or distributed for sale. Similar works involving superman characters are prohibited, but fan art or an idea of a super- human character are allowed.

(Signpost: Now that you’ve gotten an understanding of what the Copyright Law is, I will be moving on to explaining what it protects and does not protect.)

II. Main Point: What does copyright protects and not protect.

a. “Copyright protects: Literary works, Music and lyrics, dramatic works and music, pantomimes and choreographic works, photographs, graphics, paintings, sculptural works, motion pictures and other audiovisual works, video games, computer software, audio recordings, and architectural works.”

b. Copyright does not protect:

i. “Work in the public domain, titles, names, short phrases, slogans, familiar symbols or designs, numbers, ideas and facts, news, processes, systems [ such as Dewey decimal system],federal government works[the tax code], and unfixed works that have not been recorded in a tangible / fixed form.”

(Signpost: Since now we know what copyright protects and does not protect, I will be now be explaining its limitations and protection