Law Library

Researching Copyright Law

Copyright law is federal in nature, although common law (i.e., case-derived) copyright law still exists in limited form. Also, there are many copyright law treaties. This Info Series guide focuses on statutes, regulations, secondary sources, and international and foreign copyright information.

Primary Law

Federal Law

United States Constitution

United States copyright law dates back to the Constitution, specifically Article 1, section 8, clause 8. The U.S. Constitution can be found in the United States Code, the United States Code Annotated, or the United States Code Service, and online at FindLaw and Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute.

United States Code

The current federal copyright law is the Copyright Act of 1976. It is located in Title 17 of the United States Code. The Code is available in many places online for free, including:

• GPO Access
• FindLaw
• Legal Information Institute at Cornell University
  

Annotated versions of the code are available in print or in subscription databases. These versions are the United States Code Annotated (published by West) and the United States Code Service (published by LexisNexis). All print versions of the United States Code are in rows 8 & 9 in the lower level of the library.

Parts of the Copyright Act are known by individual acts that have amended it (e.g., the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998). Individual acts are listed on the U.S. Copyright Office website.

For current legislation, search THOMAS, a service of the Library of Congress.

Previous Federal Law

The previous federal copyright statute was the 1909 Copyright Act. It applies to works published before the current Act went into effect (Jan. 1, 1978).

Discussion of the 1909 act and a comparison with the current act can be found in INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND UNFAIR COMPETITION IN A NUTSHELL (KF2979 .M35 2003, 5th ed. on reserve, 4th ed. stacks).

The text of the 1909 Act is available in NIMMER ON COPYRIGHT.

Code of Federal Regulations

Copyright regulations are in Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The CFR can be found in print in row 9 in the lower level of the Law Library or online at GPO Access.

Federal Register

The Federal Register contains proposed regulations and final regulations that have yet to be added to the CFR. It is available at GPO Access and in print in row 9 in the lower level of the library. It is also available (back to 1936) on the Hein Online Federal Register Library, a subscription database. It is available at the Law Library website. College of Law patrons can access it off campus.

State Law

The Law Library has print copies for a limited number of states’ codes. For online resources, try FindLaw, which provides links to state web sites.

International

This section features treaties and other agreements that affect U.S. copyright law, as well as links to texts of non-U.S. copyright laws. A good starting place is the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Copyright information is located in the About Intellectual Property and Activities & Services sections.

Treaties/Other Agreements

• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
• World Trade Organization’s Intellectual Property Agreement (TRIPS).
• Agreement between the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade
  Organization.
• The Universal Copyright Convention
• Indexes of intellectual property treaties (not just copyright):
  • http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/
  • http://www.compilerpress.atfreeweb.com/multi_i.htm.
• General Agreement of Tariff and Trade (GATT):
  • Copyright and the GATT: An Interpretation and Legislative History of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, William F. Patry, KF2994 .P354 1995.
• Copyright Laws of Other Nations
  • United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Note: Most Latin American and some European laws are not available in English on this website.
  • World Intellectual Property Organization

Cases

• COL patrons can search for cases on LexisNexis and Westlaw using individual passwords. Patrons not affiliated with the COL can search for cases on LexisNexis Academic, which is available on GALILEO. To access this database at the Law Library, go to http://law.gsu.edu/library/alcove/ and click on the LexisNexis Academic link under Popular
  Electronic Resources. Then click on the Legal Research link in the top left corner of the page. To search for federal cases, click on Federal Case Law. To search for state cases, click on State Case Law and then select the state (LexisNexis Academic has no function for searching more than one state’s case law at a time). LexisNexis Academic is a database on GALILEO and so is accessible from any GSU computer.
• Another electronic resource available to patrons not affiliated with the COL is United States Patents Quarterly/Intellectual Property Library, available through the Law Library's database list. Case searches can be conducted on the main page, or located using the topical index (located under the USPQ Second Series and First Series headings). COL patrons can access this database from off-campus.
• Another way to locate cases is by using a digest, which groups summaries of cases by topic. See the Info Series guide “How to Use Digests to Find Cases” for more information. The Law Library has digests for Georgia, the Southeastern Reporter, and the federal reporters. Also, Westlaw has a digest function accessible from its site map (subscription or credit card required for access).
• A fourth way to find cases is to identify a relevant statute section in the U.S. Code Annotated or U.S. Code Service and look at the case annotations following the section. After finding relevant cases, find out whether they are still good law (i.e., not overturned) by using LexisNexis Shepard’s Citator Service, available at http://law.gsu.edu/library/alcove/ (access restricted to the Law Library).

SECONDARY SOURCES

Treatises

• NIMMER ON COPYRIGHT: 10-volume looseleaf, updated yearly, call# KF2991.5 .N5 1993, non-circulating, located on the upper level of the Law Library. Also available in LexisNexis, a subscription service, in the NIMMER file.
• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND UNFAIR COMPETITION IN A NUTSHELL, 5th ed., 2004, by Charles R. McManis. Call# KF2979 .M35 2003, on reserve at the circulation desk. The 4th edition is located in the general stacks.
• INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHT IN A NUTSHELL, 3rd
  ed., 2000, by Arthur R. Miller & Michael H. Davis. Call# KF2980 .M52 2000. One copy in the general stacks, one copy on reserve at the circulation desk.

Basic Information

• THE COPYRIGHT HANDBOOK, 7th ed., 2003, by Stephen Fishman. KF2995 .F53 2003. Part of the Nolo Press series of law books for laypersons.
• THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: HOW TO FIND & USE COPYRIGHT-FREE WRITINGS, MUSIC, ART & MORE: 2nd ed., 2004, by Stephen Fishman. KF3022 .Z9 F57 2004. Part of the Nolo Press series of law books for laypersons.

Journal Articles

To search for articles, go to the Law Library database list and click on the Select Subject Area button. Click on Legal Periodicals—Finding Aids. A list of links to searchable databases will come up. These databases can be accessed off-campus. Print periodicals are shelved alphabetically in the lower level of the Law Library. To see whether the Law Library owns a journal in print, check the online catalog.

ELECTRONIC SOURCES

LexisNexis and Westlaw (password required)

LexisNexis and Westlaw both have pages of links organized by area of law. These links are to
databases for finding cases, statutes, regulations, journal articles, treatises and other secondary
sources, and news. To access LexisNexis’ subject pages, click on Research System tab and then
click on Area of Law – By Topic. Topics relevant to this Info Series guide include Copyright
Law and Entertainment. To access Westlaw’s pages, click on the add/remove tabs link at the top
any page on Westlaw. Scroll down to the Topical section. In this section are links to
Entertainment and Intellectual Property, among others.

Free Websites

• United States Copyright Office. Maintained by the Library of Congress. Has basic information on copyright, plus registering works and searching copyright records.
• Wex. A cooperative encyclopedia from Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute.
• Copyright Crash Course. From the University of Texas.
• Creative Commons. An alternative approach to copyright use and ownership.
• Copyright Management Center. From Indiana and Purdue universities.

Blogs

• Lessig Blog. By an Stanford Law professor/author.
• The Patry Copyright Blog. By by a law firm partner/Cardozo Law professor
• Pierce Law IP News Blog. From Franklin Pierce LawCenter.
• The Invent Blog. Includes a category for copyrights.
  

Library-related information

• American Library Association
• Copyright & Fair Use. From Stanford University Libraries.
• LibraryLaw.com. Includes links to cases, memos, and guidelines.
• LibraryLaw Blog. By current and former law librarians.

This Research Guide was last updated June 23, 2006.