Copyright Act of 1976 Law and Legal Definition
The Copyright Act (“Act”) of 1976 provides basic rights to the copyright holder. This Act preempts all previous copyright laws of the U.S. The Act provides for certain rights to the copyright holder like:
1. the right to reproduce (copy);
2. the right to create derivative works of the original work;
3. the right to sell, lease, or rent copies of the work to the public;
4. the right to perform the work publicly (if the work is a literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, pantomime, motion picture, or other audiovisual work), and
5. the right to display the work publicly (if the work is a literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, pantomime, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, motion picture, or other audiovisual work).
