Resources on U.S. Copyright Law

A source of clear, reliable information about copyright is the website of the United States Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. A number of common questions are addressed in circulars and factsheets.

When investigating copyright law, it is important to remember that the statute is only part of the law: the words used in Title 17 may have a very specific meaning because of court decisions and legislative history. The fair-use provisions, for example, can be particularly thorny. People who rely only on the plain language of Title 17 do so at their peril.

More than one website presents the text of the copyright statutes from Title 17 of the United States Code. The text presented by the Copyright Office, however, includes some very useful information in footnotes. The top of the first page indicates which new laws have not yet been integrated into the whole text--and it gives links to the full text of these enactments.

Another important site for the copyright provisions of Title 17 is from the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute (LII). What makes this site particularly valuable is the information available through the links to the right of the screen--the "Notes," "Updates," and "Parallel authorities (CFR)." (CFR = Code of Federal Regulations.)

The best websites that explain copyright are the work of people who are trained both as attorneys and as librarians. Many of these sites are associated with law schools or university libraries.

A splendid, user-friendly resource is the website of the Copyright Management Center at Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis (IUPUI). There are some particularly helpful worksheets (on fair use, for example). This is a good place to start. The site is well organized and has considerable depth.

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