Scholarly Communications & Publishing

Please Read

The publishing world can be a confusing mix of interchangeable terms, conflicting statements, and dense legalese. This guide is intended to help you navigate some of the challenges but be aware that this is not intended as "one-size-fits-all" advise. ALWAYS read your contracts and agreements closely! 

For more information on Copyrights and Intellectual Property please follow this link.

Your Rights as a Copyright Holder

Copyright holders are granted 5 exclusive rights:

• The right to reproduce the work - You can reproduce exact copies of the work. 
• The right to produce derivative works - gives you the right to produce new works based off the original. Think Spin-offs, sequels, translations, and other adaptations. 
• Distribution rights - you have the right to control how the work is transferred to others. This can be via sale, lending, lease, or renting. 
• Public Performance rights - gives you the right to determine how a work is publicly performed*. This includes anything that can be performed except for sound recordings. 
• Public Display rights - you have the right to control how a work is displayed in public - such as a photo or graphic design. 

*A performance is considered “public” when the work is: performed in a place open to the public, or performed at a place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances are gathered, or is transmitted to multiple locations. 

What else do I need to know as the author?

• Author rights and literary rights are phrases used interchangeably. They pretty much describes the same thing - who owns the copyright to a particular work. 
• The author is the Copyright holder automatically unless/ until the copyright is transferred to someone else in a signed agreement. 
• You can sometimes get your author rights back even after a contract has been signed. Some publishers will allow clauses to revert copyright ownership back to the author if a certain set of criteria is met. 
• The Copyright holder controls the work. Decisions made about the use, distribution, access, pricing, updates, and restrictions belong to the copyright holder. 
• If you have transferred your copyright without retaining any rights do not maintain control of their work. The new copyright holder makes those decisions unless some rights have been retained. If you want to be able to share, copy, or reuse your work after a copyright transfer be sure to hold on to a few rights. 
• Transferring your copyright does not have to be all or nothing - you can maintain some rights while still transferring the ownership. If you're ever unsure contact a copyright expert or legal council to ensure your rights are being protected. 

Life Cycle of Copyright

Copyright is not indefinite and eventually ownership of the copyright will pass into the public domain. But how long does one get to keep the copyright? This depends on multiple factors. 

Copyright law protection begins the moment a creator creates and affixes their work to a tangible form, such as a photograph or song recording. In general, for most copyright types, copyright lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years. Anything that was created anonymously, under a pseudonym / pen name, or works made for hire last for either 95 years from the first publication date or 120 years from creation - whichever comes first. For more detailed information please visit Copyright.gov. 

According to Copyright.gov Copyright does not protect:

• Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, or discoveries
• Works that are not fixed in a tangible form (such as a choreographic work that has not been notated or recorded or an improvisational speech that has not been written down)
• Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans
• Familiar symbols or designs
• Mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring
• Mere listings of ingredients or contents

U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright Basics. Retrieved May 2, 2025, from https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf.

If you have suggestions for how to make this page better, please contact Elizabeth Jerow, Library Director (jerow@msoe.edu).