A complete version of the US Copyright law can be found in US Code Title 17, the full text  of which (in html and pdf formats) can be found at:

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/index.html

US Copyright law grants a set of near-exclusive rights to the copyright owner, including the rights to make and distribute copies of the work and also protects the right to derivative works (Crews-1, 5).  Copyright protection is very broad, automatically covering almost every new work.  It also lasts a long time.  Today's rule of thumb is, copyright coverage lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. 

Copyright has changed since the constitution first enshrined the idea in American law, and those changes will be traced briefly in this module, with special emphasis on the TEACH Act of 2002. The penalties for copyright infringement, especially willful infringement of registered copyrights, are very serious, and those are addressed briefly in this module. 

In summary, this module addresses the specifics about:

	What is Copyright
	How Long Does Copyright Last
	Copyright's Basis in Law (History)
	Infringement and Liability

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