Use could be tracked by the computer storing the works with an accounting made on a periodic basis. The right to control the making of derivative works was originally designed to permit an author to take advantage of foreign translations of his or her written work. It has also been very useful for authors who prepare a stageplay or a movie from an earlier novel. In the computer context, new questions are being raised about derivative works since computers can be easily used to generate a new work from older data or information. The simple preservation of existing works is unlikely to create any issues of derivative works.
Colorized films are one example of a derivative work causing potential problems.
The right to control the distribution of copies is a corollary of the right to control reproduction since it has been from the distribution of copies that income to the owner has been derived. An important limitation on the right to control the distribution of a work is provided in Section 109 of the statute. That section permits a lawful owner of a particular copy of a work to sell or otherwise dispose of a work or to display it publicly. In other words, when someone purchases a copy of a work, the original creator no longer has control over what happens to that copy. The creator retains rights in the intellectual component of the work, but not in the physical object.