Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, available to both published and unpublished works. The Copyright Act (Section 106) of 1976 allows owners of copyright the exclusive right to do and authorize others to do the following:

To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or ending;

To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical,
dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion
pictures and other audiovisual works;

To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and

In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

A complete version of the U.S. Copyright Law is available online through the U.S. Copyright Office, including amendments made since 1976.