Journal Article

Copyright Protection for the Franchised Business

Brennan, Valerie

2024

Overview

\"4 The law is codified in Title 17 of the United States Code, as amended (the \"Copyright Act\").5 A. Basic Concepts Copyrights protect original, minimally creative authored works, such as writings, music, images, audio or audiovisual recordings, and architectural works6 that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression.7 Only the copyrighted expression is protected, not the underlying ideas, procedures, methods, discoveries, concepts, or \"useful articles. [...]copyright registration is required to bring suit for copyright infringement in the United States.'s Moreover, prompt registration enables the would-be infringement plaintiff to avoid the additional cost associated with expediting registration applications and can entitle the owner to statutory damages of up to of $150,000 per infringement and reasonable attorney's fees.19 In certain cases, attorney fees in copyright infringement cases can far outweigh actual damages.20 The prospect of potential statutory damages can be a powerful deterrent to potential willful infringers. The Copyright Act does not include a definition of \"photograph\" but the term includes photographs that are created with a camera and captured in a digital file or other visual medium such as film.33 (6) Computer Software and Apps. Copyright in software extends to source code, which is copyrightable expression, but does not protect anything functional, such as the program's logic or system design or algorithms.34 HTML (hypertext markup language) is not considered to

• Publisher: American Bar Association
• Subject: Authorship / Copyright / Copyright infringement / Copyright licenses / Creative ability / Fair use (Copyright) / Franchises / Infringement / Intellectual property / Laws, regulations and rules / Public domain (Copyright law) / Registration / Software