In addition, a substantial set of related industries print, copy, or distribute copyrighted
materials, and so are dependent upon the copyright industries. In the United States, in 2001, the copyright industries
accounted for over $535 billion, or 5.24 percent of the total GDP of the United States. If one also includes the
dependent industries, the total jumps to $791 billion and 7.75 percent of GDP. The copyright industries have
been growing at a rate of 5.8 percent per year (Stephen Siwek, ???Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy: The
2002 Report,??? Economists Incorporated, 2002, http://www.iipa.com/). Clearly, copyrights and the copyright
industries are very important to the economy.
One copyrights one??™s particular expression of an idea, not the idea itself. Your poem about the beauty
of the sunset can be copyrighted, but others may also write about the beauty of sunsets, in their own words, of
course.
Obtaining a copyright to one??™s work product is free and automatic. As soon as one creates the work, one
owns the copyright to the work. The law does not require that the work be published, and does not require even
that notice of copyright be made on the product. Nevertheless, it is good practice to put a notice of copyright
on one??™s work, using the copyright symbol ?© or the word ???copyright,??? followed by the year of creation and the
author??™s name.
Pages:
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471