Page:The librarian's copyright companion, by James S. Heller, Paul Hellyer, Benjamin J. Keele, 2012.djvu/23

Chapter One. General Principles *Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources). One other category that should be added is impromptu speeches or presentations. The written version of a speech will be protected because it meets the fixation requirement, but the speech itself will not be protected under the Copyright Act unless it was taped or otherwise “fixed” by the speaker or someone authorized by the speaker.

Although the works mentioned above are not copyrightable, they may be subject to other types of legal protection, such as patent, trademark, trade secret, or unfair competition law.

A copyright notice is not necessary for a work to be copyrighted. Copyright attaches automatically when an original work is created. A work is created “when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time.”

There are advantages to including a copyright notice. First, the notice identifies the copyright owner and indicates the date the work was published. Second, it informs the public that the work is protected. Third, the notice makes it difficult for a defendant in an infringement suit to claim that he or she was an innocent infringer—someone who was not aware and had no reason to believe that his or her acts were infringing. This is important for copyright owners, for a court may reduce statutory damages if the infringer was an “innocent” infringer.