Copyrights

The USPTO leads efforts to develop and strengthen both domestic and international intellectual property

protection and advises the Secretary of Commerce, the President of the United States, and the Administration on patent, trademark, and copyright protection.

A 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authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. The 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly, or to display the copyrighted work publicly.

The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing. For example, a description of a machine could be copyrighted, but this would only prevent others from copying the description; it would not prevent others from writing a description of their own or from making and using the machine. Copyrights are registered by the

>> Library of Congress' Copyright Office. <<

There are times when you may desire a combination of copyright, patent and trademark protection for your work. You should consult an attorney to determine what forms of intellectual property protection are best suited to your needs.

Special information about Vessel Hull Designs -

stylized boat The Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, Title 17, Chapter 13 of the United States Code, was signed into law on October 28, 1998, providing for protection for original designs of vessel hulls. The law grants an owner of an original vessel hull design certain exclusive rights provided that application for registration of the design with the Copyright Office is made within two years of the design being made public. Protection is afforded only to vessel hull designs embodied in actual vessel hulls that are publicly exhibited, publicly distributed, or offered for sale or sold to the public on or after October 28, 1998.

The issuance of a design patent under title 35, United States Code, for an original design for an article of manufacture shall terminate any protection of the original design under this chapter.

Search Design Patents by Classification Codes - D12 Transportation
HINT: click on symbols for a linked list of patents in each subclass grouping

USPTO/Copyright Office Report to Congress on effectiveness of Vessel Hull Design Protection Act (November 2003) [requires PDF viewer]

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