Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development

Copyrights

It is the ownership rights to the “original works of authorship.” The rights include:

Reproduction
Preparing derivative works
Distribution
Public performance
Public display

The copyright protection in the U.S. is automatic, no registration is required. Typically, you will see a notice such:

© Year of creation followed by the name of the company or individual

Here are few examples:

Literary works
Dramatic works
Musical works
Artistic works
Computer software
Multimedia materials
Photographs

The original authors life plus 70 years, for "work made for hire" it is 95 years from the date of the publication or 120 years from the date of the creation.