Copyright Act of 1976

Material becomes copyrighted as soon as it is created, whether or not it is registered with the federal governent or another body, and it guarantees the owner of a copyrighted work certain rights to control how that work is used, whether the work is text, a song, software, or other intellectual property. Those rights include the right to copy the material, prepare derivative works based on the material, distribute public copies of the work, perform the work publicly, and display the work publicly.