Copyright

Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works including software and other digital media. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Copyright protection exists from the time the work is created in a fixed form. Copyright law secures exclusive rights to control who can make copies, or make works derived from the original work. Copyright does not protect ideas, only their expression in fixation. Original work that is written, designed, or performed is automatically protected by copyright; it does not have to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, although registration will help to prove infringement in court. The Fair Use provision of copyright law permits usage of short passages from copyrighted works, without the author’s permission if the purpose of your writing is educational, to report news, or to comment on an issue.

LSU’s portfolio of copyright protected technologies includes, software, questionnaires that have appeared in magazines, documentaries, etc.

Please visit the US Copyright Office website for more information on copyrights.