Additional Resources About Copyright
North American law
The Copyright Office is the Federal agency that registers U.S. copyrights. It provides downloadable registration forms, informational publications and links to other official sites.
U.S. statute and case law. Title 17 of the United States Code is available from the Copyright Office. Alternatively, the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School collects the statutes and court rulings at both the federal and state levels. The latest federal legislation and the status of bills being considered in Congress can be searched at the Thomas web site.
North of the border. The Canadian Intellectual Property Office registers copyrights for Canadian residents. The Canadian copyright licensing agency, Access Copyright, provides lots of useful interpretive material for both rights-holders and licensees.
South of the border. In Mexico, Indautor (Instituto Nacional del Derecho de Autor, or National Copyright Institute) is the government agency responsible for administering copyright law. The site is in Spanish. A helpful English-language explication of the differences between U.S. and Mexican copyright laws is available at the National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade.
More info on the law and lawyers
APIC Worldwide is dedicated to education about Internet copyright law and enforcement of such law. Membership is open to all who are concerned about copyright protection, including photographers, distributors of images, video, film, literature and other intellectual property, movie producers, musicians, record producers and publishers, as well as websites concerned about copyright infringement.
FindLaw offers news, message boards and a “find a lawyer” service by location and specialty.
Martindale.com is a flexible and comprehensive search engine for lawyers, and it provides peer ratings for many of the attorneys listed.
Royalties and permissions
Copyright Clearance Center offers content users a painless way to get permission to reproduce copyrighted content for such uses as photocopies, coursepacks, library reserves, Web sites, book excerpts and journal articles. CCC offers several Online Permissions Services, most of which are optimized for academic, library and corporate users.
In Canada, a similar service is provided by Access Copyright, a not-for-profit agency established in 1988. The agency now represents more than 6,000 Canadian writers, photographers, illustrators and over 550 newspaper, book and magazine publishers.
Elsewhere in the World
The broad principles of copyright are the same everywhere; all of the industrialized nations, and most of the developing nations, are signatories to the Berne Convention. There are, of course, still differences in procedures, precedents, customs and enforcement standards.
Great Britain. The U.K. Patent Office registers copyrights (as well as patents, trademarks and designs). The Chartered Institute of Patent Agents can help you find an intellectual property attorney. E. Eder & Co has a crisp statement of British law, including some helpful comments about differences from U.S. law.
Europe. David Thorneloe maintains a collection of links to information sources for the EU and each of its member nations
Australia and New Zealand. The Australian Copyright Council and Copyright Council of New Zealand provide concise information and many useful links. These two sites are our recommended starting points for your Down Under concerns. Although not focused on copyright, the Australasian Legal Information Institute catalogs statutes and cases for Australia and New Zealand.
Another point of view
These groups tend to examine copyright issues from the user’s point of view, rather than the rights-holder’s. Nevertheless, the information they present is often quite valuable.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation “was created to defend our rights to think, speak, and share our ideas, thoughts, and needs using new technologies, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web. EFF is the first to identify threats to our basic rights online and to advocate on behalf of free expression in the digital age.” It is often critical of ill-drafted legislation (for example, the DMCA) and rights-holder industry associations (especially RIAA and MPAA).
Chilling Effects Clearinghouse supports the right of individuals “to express their views, parody politicians, celebrate their favorite movie stars, or criticize businesses.” Of particular interest to us are its discussions of parody and fair use, which are legal (and, often, hotly contested) exceptions to the rights that copyright confers.