With the 1976 Act, Congress added 19 years to the original 56-year copyright term established by the previous 1909 Copyright Act.

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The move prompted speculation that the authorities might be seeking to shut the site down, following an earlier court case that found its original administrators guilty of helping people circumvent copyright controls.

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Our nation's copyright laws were enacted to protect original works.

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While copyright law grants the creator of an original work certain rights including the right to copy and authorize others to copy the work, to make derivative works, and sell and market the work, publicity rights protect the subject of the work where the subject is a famous person.

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But under the original contract used in the case decided yesterday, the copyright holder, Las Vegas Review-Journal parent Stephens Media, signed over only the right to sue while retaining an exclusive license to the content itself.

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Because Coulton's cover is derivative of the original work by Sir Mix-A-Lot, Coulton does not have a copyright claim against "Glee" for using the Coulton version, Parks said.

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