A copyright protects your intellectual property so that no one can legally copy your creative expressions.

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1. Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software and architecture.
2. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.
3. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed. A copyright does not protect the same things as a patent or trademark.
4. Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form so that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.
5. Copyright protection apply to any works "whether or not" the materials are officially copyrighted (registered with the U.S. Copyright Office).
6. Registering the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office will help if there is a legal dispute.
7. You can download the forms needed to register online at the Copyright Office's website. Registering a copyright is inexpensive ($25). It takes about two months for the Office to process your registration.
8. You can put a copyright notice on your work (registration is not required) immediately. Your work is protected with or without the notice. The notice helps to deter copyright infringment.
9. The copyright notice includes the symbol ©, the year the work was finished and the author's name. It should look like this example: © 2000 Your Name. All Rights Reserved. Use a "P" in the center of the circle for phonorecords.
10. Only the copyright owner or someone authorized by the owner has the right to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords or to create derivative works based on the works.
11. Only the copyright owner or someone authorized by the owner has the right to distribute copies or phonorecords to the public by sale, rental or lease.
12. Only the copyright owner or someone authorized by the owner can perform the work publicly, display the work publicly or as in the case of sound recordings perform the work publicly via digital audio transmissions.
13. A copyright today would provide the protection and exclusive rights, lasting the life of the author plus seventy years.
    

1. You can not copyright works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression or titles, names, slogans, familiar symbols and works derived entirely from public domain information or common knowledge.
2. "Works for hire" means you have been hired or are under contract to someone to create works (i.e. web design or a magazine article). In that case the person that hired/contracted you becomes the copyright owner.
   

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