Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S.Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This applies to both published and unpublished works. US law gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords
prepare derivative works based upon the work
distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending
perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works
display the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work
perform the work publicly (in the case of sound recordings*) by means of a digital audio transmission
Follow the link for a more detailed explanation of US copyright law http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf
LCPS Copyright resources
Fair Use
Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the framework for determining whether something is 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. Section 107 calls for consideration of the following four factors in evaluating a question of fair use: