Legal protection for intellectual property. The Copyright owner has the legal authority to determine if and how their creative products get used. Intellectual properties are the creative products made by a person or a company. It can include art, stories, songs, patents, inventions, research, photographs, computer programs, etc…
Exceptions to Copyright
Fair Use
- Exceptions to copyright law, generally for educational purposes and applies only for short exerts of the creative product – For example, Fair use lets you use quotations, show video snippet, or use other people’s images in your papers or presentations.
Public Domain
- Material that is not under copyright or Material that is not owned or controlled by anyone. Generally this means government documents, creative product that are more than 70 years old, or material where the creator has waived copyright
For more information visit the Library of Congress and Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright
Copyright your own Creative Endeavers...
Creative Commons
- A non-profit organization that works to expand range of materials available for sharing and public use by providing an easy legal framework that allows creators to limit or waive their rights.
- If you want to create a copyright for your creative products, this is where you go.