A copyright provides its holder the right to restrict unauthorized copying and reproduction of an original expression (i.e. literary work, movie, music, painting, software, mask work, etc.)
Copyright stands in contrast to other forms of intellectual property, such as patents, which grant a monopoly right to the use of an invention, because it is not a monopoly right to do something, merely a right to prevent others doing it.
Copyrights may be granted, sold, or relinquished. Very often, a copyright holder will, by contract, transfer his copyrights to a corporation. For example, a writer who writes a novel will sign a publication agreement with a company such as Random House in which the writer agrees to transfer all copyrights to Random House in exchange for royalties and other terms. One might ask why a copyright holder would ever give up his rights. The answer is that large companies such as Random House generally have production and marketing capabilities far beyond that of the author. In the digital age of music, music may be copied and distributed for a minimal cost through the Internet, but record labels attempt to provide the service of promoting and marketing the artist so that his work can reach a much larger audience. A copyright holder does not have to transfer all rights completely. Some of the rights may be transferred, or else the copyright holder may grant another party a non-exclusive license to copy and/or distribute the work in a particular region.
Copyright covers the expression of an idea, not the idea itself—this is called the idea-expression divide. For example, if a book is written describing a new way to organize books in library, a reader can freely use that method without being sued and even describe it to others; it is only the particular way in which the original author described that process that is protected by copyright. One might be able to obtain a patent for the method, but that is a different subject. Compilations of facts or data may be copyrighted if the facts are selected and arranged in an original manner, though protection will only apply to wholesale copying of that selection and arrangement and not to the facts themselves.
In some cases, ideas may only be capable of intelligible expression in only one or a limited number of ways. Therefore even the expression in these circumstances is unprotected, or extremely limited to verbatim copying only. In the United States this is known as the merger doctrine, because the expression is considered to be inextricably merged with the idea. Merger is often pleaded as an affirmative defense to infringement, though some believe that it should prevent the material at issue from being copyrighted in the first place.
Subject to moral rights, copyright also does not prohibit the owner of a physical copy of a work from modifying, defacing, destroying, etc. the work, so long as this does not involve duplication.
In the United States, the original owner of the copyright may be the employer of the actual author rather than the author himself if the work is a "work for hire". Again, this principle is widespread; in English Law the Copyright Designs and Patents 1988 provides that where a work in which copyright subsists is made by an employee in the course of his employment, the copyright is automatically assigned to the employer.
Copyrights are generally enforced by the owner in a civil law court,
but there are also criminal infringement statutes. Criminal sanctions are generally aimed at serious counterfeiting activity.
Many European countries (and other countries as a result of the GATT Trade Related Intellectual Property or "TRIPs" agreement) further provide for moral rights in addition to copyrights possessed by authors, such as the right to have
their work acknowledged and not be disparaged. (Famously, the Monty Python team managed to use these rights to stop the Monty Python TV programme being shown in the US because the US TV station was putting so many adverts into the program the Monty Python team claimed that it was being ruined as a serious comedy programme.)
While copyright is normally assigned or licensed to the publisher, authors
generally retain their moral rights (although in some jurisdictions these can be excluded under contract). In most of Europe it is not possible for authors to assign their moral rights (unlike the copyright itself, which is regarded as an item of property which can be sold, licensed, lent, mortgaged or given like any other property). They can agree not to enforce them (and such terms are very common in contracts in Europe). There may also be a requirement for the author to 'assert' these moral rights before they can be enforced. In many books, for example, this is done on a page near the beginning, in amongst the British Library/Library of Congress data.
Some European countries also provide for artist resale rights, which mean
that artists are entitled to a portion of the appreciation of the value of
their work each time it is sold. These rights are granted on the background of a different tradition, which granted droits d'auteur rather than copyright also granting all creators various moral rights beyond the economic rights recognized in most copyright jurisdictions. (see also parallel importation.)
While governments had previously granted monopoly rights to publishers
to sell printed works, the modern concept of copyright originated in 1710
with the British Statute of Anne.
This statute first recognized that authors, rather than publishers, should be
the primary beneficiary of such laws, and it included protections for consumers
of printed work ensuring that publishers could not control their use after
sale.
It also limited the duration of such exclusive rights to 28 years, after
which all works would pass into the public domain.
The Berne Convention of 1886 first established the recognition of
copyrights between sovereign nations.
(Copyrights were also provided by the
Universal Copyright Convention of 1952, but that convention is today largely of historical interest.)
Under the Berne convention, copyright is granted automatically to creative
works; an author does not have to "register" or "apply for" a copyright.
As soon as the work is "fixed", that is, written or recorded on some
physical medium, its author is automatically granted all exclusive rights
to the work and any derivative works unless and until the author explicitly
disclaims them, or until the copyright expires.
Others believe that irrespective of contemporary advances in technology, copyright has been and remains the fundamental way by which authors, sculptors, artists, musicians and others can fund the creation of new works. This view espouses that copyright is the only reason some valuable books and art would be created. But the ease of copying digital materials and the apparent lack of severe consequences gradually erodes the belief that copyright as presently constructed is indispensable. Open source software and projects like Wikipedia proves that even in the absence of copyright-enforced monopoly rents, quality works can be created. Some online authors, while retaining the copyright, imply that only authorship attribution right is important, by implicitly allowing the copying provided that the link to original material is created.
In the US in 2003, controversial changes implemented by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act extending the length of copyright under U.S. copyright law by 20 years were constitutionally challenged unsuccessfully in the Supreme Court. The Court, in the case called Eldred v. Ashcroft, held inter alia that in placing existing and future copyrights in parity in the CTEA, Congress acted within its authority and did not transgress constitutional limitations.
The differences between the length of copyright provided by different countries creates situations where it is legal to publish a work on the Web in one country (e.g., Bulgaria), but illegal to view that Web page in another country (e.g., the United States): http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/nonus.html
Myths About Copyright Explained Answers to common myths about copyright from Brad Templeton, former publisher at ClariNet Communications Corp., http://www.templetons.com/brad//copymyths.html
GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) Organization supporting software authors who give up their copyright protections to allow the free distribution of software. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/copyleft.html
Crash Course in Copyright Law from the University of Texas Course to help you learn about how ownership of copyrighted materials works, what is fair use and when and how to get permission to use someone else's materials. http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/cprtindx.htm
United States Copyright Office Provides and an overview of copyright law, federal laws, regulations and other US government publications. Also provides information about registering a copyrighted document, as well as a searchable database of documents filed with the office. http://www.copyright.gov/
Basic Copyright Concepts For Writers Article explaining basic copyright concepts with links, examples, and additional information. http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/sept97/cew2.htm
The Copyright Website Endeavoring to provide real world, practical and relevant copyright information. http://www.benedict.com/
US copyright law Title 17- Copyrights- of the U.S. Code in its entirity from Cornell University http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/index.html
Sentry Australian copyright information http://www.sentry.org
Berne Convention International convention for the protection of literary and artistic works. http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/overview.html
National Legislation - UNESCO Directory of full-text copyright laws from around the world, in English, for review on line or free download. http://www.unesco.org/culture/copy/
What is Copyright Protection? Information about copyrights in general, and as applied to the internet. http://www.whatiscopyright.org/
Purpose of Copyright An essay on the state of copyright protections. http://www.open-spaces.com/article-v2n1-loren.php
Crash Course in Copyright Beginner's guide to all aspects of copyright law, from the University of Texas. http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm
Copyright and Intellectual Property Links, resources and information relating to copyright law. http://arl.cni.org/info/frn/copy/copytoc.html
Interview: Michael Landau on Copyright Professor Landau of the Georgia State University College of Law comments on the Supreme Court case of The New York Times v. Tasini. http://www.webreference.com/new/010628.html
Copyright on the Internet Copyright information for internet authors and artists. http://www.fplc.edu/tfield/cOpyNet.htm
Copyright FAQ Answers to frequently asked copyright questions. http://web.mit.edu/copyright/faq.html
Copyrightnews.Com Daily copyright and intellectual property headlines, and annotated intellectual property links. http://www.copyrightnews.com/
Lawgirl's Copyright Basics Copyright help page. Basic copyright information and links to registration help and resource pages. http://www.lawgirl.com/copyright.shtml
Arts and the Law Exploring the interaction of law with the visual, literary and performing arts. http://www.artsandthelaw.com/
Fair Use in a Nutshell A 16-step roadmap to copyright's most important exception. By Lloyd J. Jassin, a New York-based publishing attorney. http://copylaw.com/new_articles/fairuse.html
TV's Bastard Offspring Personal account of victory against British broadcasters, over a stolen idea for a television program. http://www.copyright.theft.btinternet.co.uk
Copyright & Fair Use FAQ From Stanford University Law School. http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/index.html
Libraries and Copyright in the Digital Age Information relating to fair use, library exemptions, and recent copyright legislation, from The American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/copyrightb/copyright.htm
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A copyright provides its holder the right to restrict unauthorized copying and reproduction of an original expression (i.e.