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America's copyright policy is a form of protection of "intellectual property" grounded in the Constitution.  The framers of the Constitution recognized the importance of disseminating information and new ideas to the public by incentivizing content creators.  To understand how that balance is at stake, everyone needs to know more about the rights of both consumers and creators.

Limits to copyright protections

Copyright law (17 U.S.C. §§ 101 – 1332) has evolved to protect authors' "original works of authorship" in a tangible "medium of expression" — things like motion pictures, sound recordings, literature, and software.  The law gives owners the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, and license those rights to others for a limited time.

Throughout the history of our nation, copyright protections have been of relatively short duration.  The first copyright law enacted in the U.S. allowed an initial copyright of 14 years and a renewal period of another 14 years.  This law was amended only twice in the next 170 years.  In 1962, the initial period stood at 28 years, with a renewal period of another 28 years.  In fact, the vast majority of copyrights were not renewed, so the average copyright was only about 32 years.  Since 1962, copyright law has been amended 11 times, and the initial copyright term effectively increased to 70 years after the death of the owner.  For anonymous work or a work for hire, the copyright can now last for 95 years from the date of publication to as much as 120 years from its creation which ever expires first.

There are limitations to the copyright holder's exclusive rights. These non-commercial limitations allow other individuals to use someone else's works for what are known as "fair uses" such as nonprofit educational purposes, news reporting, criticism, and commentary. The law provides guidelines for courts to decide the balance between owners and users. 

What is fair use?

As technology has raced to create new ways to enjoy new content — mp3 players and digital video recorders are some of the newer ones – content owners have raced just as quickly to prevent the unauthorized copying and sharing of their property. The Electronic Frontier Foundation goes into more detail and attempts to provide some clarity for consumers who want to know what constitutes fair use.

More about copyrights

Public Knowledge, a public interest advocacy and education organization that promotes a balanced approach between the interests of artists and consumers has a reading room on this issue. Their Beginner's Guide to copyright's key concepts includes good explanations of fair use.  

To learn more about copyrights, visit the U.S. Copyright Office or take a Crash Course on Copyrights from the University of Texas. The Association of Research Libraries also has a useful timeline and history of copyrights in the United States.