Exclusive Rights
Rights of the Copyright Owner Section 106 of the U.S. copyright law gives the owner of a copyright the exclusive rights to do and to authorize others to do the following:
1. to reproduce the work
2. to prepare derivative works based upon the work
3. to distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending
4. to perform the work publicly
5. to display the copyrighted work publicly
6. in the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of digital audio transmission.
7. in the case of a “work of visual art” the author has certain rights of attribution and integrity
The rights of the copyright owner are, in some instances, limited as several sections of the U.S. Copyright Law have established limitations on these rights. However, unless one or more of the limitations (exceptions) apply, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted works in any of the listed ways.
The copyright owner is the person or entity who owns the exclusive rights mentioned above. The copyright owner could be the author, the publisher, or another person or entity having legal ownership of one or more of the exclusive rights described above.