United States Code/Title 17/Chapter 1/Section 103

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[[../../../|United States Code]] ([[../../|Title 17]], [[../|Chapter 1]], Section 103. Subject Matter Of Copyright: Compilations And Derivative Works) by the United States Government

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(a) The subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works, but protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully.

(b) The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material.

-SOURCE-

   (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2545.)

-MISC1-

                      HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES                   

                        HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476                     
     Section 103 complements section 102: A compilation or derivative
   work is copyrightable if it represents an "original work of
   authorship" and falls within one or more of the categories listed
   in section 102. Read together, the two sections make plain that the
   criteria of copyrightable subject matter stated in section 102
   apply with full force to works that are entirely original and to
   those containing preexisting material. Section 103(b) is also
   intended to define, more sharply and clearly than does section 7 of
   the present law [section 7 of former title 17], the important
   interrelationship and correlation between protection of preexisting
   and of "new" material in a particular work. The most important
   point here is one that is commonly misunderstood today: copyright
   in a "new version" covers only the material added by the later
   author, and has no effect one way or the other on the copyright or
   public domain status of the preexisting material.
     Between them the terms "compilations" and "derivative works"
   which are defined in section 101 comprehend every copyrightable
   work that employs preexisting material or data of any kind. There
   is necessarily some overlapping between the two, but they basically
   represent different concepts. A "compilation" results from a
   process of selecting, bringing together, organizing, and arranging
   previously existing material of all kinds, regardless of whether
   the individual items in the material have been or ever could have
   been subject to copyright. A "derivative work," on the other hand,
   requires a process of recasting, transforming, or adapting "one or
   more preexisting works"; the "preexisting work" must come within
   the general subject matter of copyright set forth in section 102,
   regardless of whether it is or was ever copyrighted.
     The second part of the sentence that makes up section 103(a)
   deals with the status of a compilation or derivative work
   unlawfully employing preexisting copyrighted material. In providing
   that protection does not extend to "any part of the work in which
   such material has been used unlawfully," the bill prevents an
   infringer from benefiting, through copyright protection, from
   committing an unlawful act, but preserves protection for those
   parts of the work that do not employ the preexisting work. Thus, an
   unauthorized translation of a novel could not be copyrighted at
   all, but the owner of copyright in an anthology of poetry could sue
   someone who infringed the whole anthology, even though the
   infringer proves that publication of one of the poems was
   unauthorized. Under this provision, copyright could be obtained as
   long as the use of the preexisting work was not "unlawful," even
   though the consent of the copyright owner had not been obtained.
   For instance, the unauthorized reproduction of a work might be
   "lawful" under the doctrine of fair use or an applicable foreign
   law, and if so the work incorporating it could be copyrighted.

-SECREF-

                  SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS               
     This section is referred to in sections 104, 301 of this title;
   title 19 section 2242.