Get ML-172-180. Copyright Legislation Federal Register - Copyright

You can still cite and refer to other sources (including copyrighted materials) in your work. But to use, copy, or change a copyrighted work, you need permission from the person who holds the copyright. This permission is called a license.

Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use.

Welcome to the Copyright Public Records Portal. This is your starting point for finding copyright records held by the Copyright Office. Here, you can search our online records, learn about our searching and retrieval services, and view educational videos and materials.

APA citation style: U.S. Congress. (1976) United States Code: Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101-118 Suppl. 1 .

How do you check if something is copyrighted? We found out earlier that every original creative work is “copyrighted” as soon as it's written down or saved in some tangible form. If you want to check registrations, though, you need to use the search engine on copyright.gov.

The Register of Copyrights is the director of the United States Copyright Office within the Library of Congress, as provided by 17 U.S.C. § 701. The Office has been headed by a Register since 1897. The Register is appointed by, and responsible to, the Librarian of Congress.

APA citation style: U.S. Congress. (1958) United States Code: Copyright Office, 17 U.S.C. §§ 201-216 .