QandAs: Legal

What Is A Copyright?

Answer:
A copyright is a specific law that gives an individual

exclusive ownership over a literary, musical, scientific, academic or artistic work. This legal document entitles the creator the sole rights to publish, perform or sell their work. Under this law a work cannot be used or performed privately or publicly without legal permission granted by the author.

A copyright does not cover ownership over ideas or information, but instead over how that idea or information is expressed. The owner holds the exclusive rights in the manner he/she chooses to use, showcase, modify, lend, publish or sell their work:

•    The right to perform the work
•    The right to display the work publicly
•    The right to prepare derivative works
•    The right to distribute copies
•    The right to reproduce or adapt the work

Unless a copyright has expired and entered the public domain or an individual willingly gives up his/her ownership rights, this law protects the work from being reproduced--and, more specifically, from being reproduced under a different name than the original creator.

Specifics regarding what type of work is covered under copyright varies by jurisdiction and can range in scope and field: from musical compositions to photographs, logos to silk-screen images, or literary works to software.


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