Challenging search engines and pop-ups under copyright law-part 3

We address whether putting a pop-up advertising window as a layer on top of a Web page´s screen display involves the unlawful preparation of a derivative work without the consent of the owner. Copyright Act [17 U.S.C. sec. 106(2)] makes it copyright infringement to prepare a derivative work without the authorization of the copyright holder who owns the underlying work. Something special about this provision of copyright law is that, unlike those provisions dealing with unauthorized reproduction and distribution, this provision prohibits the preparation of derivative works, rather than the manufacture or distribution of copies of the derivative works. A copy is a physical object embodying a work in fixed form, for example, a book, painting, audiotape, programmed EPROM, or encoded hard disk.