U.S. Code

Title 17, chapters 1-8 and 10-12 contains the text of the United States copyright law. Selected sections of the copyright law are included here. The full text of Title 17 is available at several sites including: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/primary_materials/codes/index.html

Chapter 1: Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright

• Section 102: Subject Matter of Copyright in General
• Section 106: Exclusive Rights in Copyrighted Works
• Section 106A: Rights of Certain Authors to Attribution and Integrity
• Section 107: Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use
• Section 108: Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Reproduction by Libraries and Archives
• Section 109: Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Effect of Transfer of a Particular Copy or Phonorecord
• Section 110: Limitations on Exclusive Rights, Exemption of Certain Performances and Displays

Chapter 2: Copyright Ownership and Transfer

• Section 201: Ownership of Copyright

Chapter 3: Duration of Copyright

• Section 302: Works Created On or After January 1, 1978
• Section 303: Works Created but not Published or Copyrighted Before January 1, 1978
• Section 304: Subsisting Copyrights

Chapter 5: Copyright Infringement and Remedies

• Section 504: Remedies for Infringement: Damages and Profits