 Copyright is a form of protection given to authors/creators of original works.  This property right can be sold or transferred to others.

 Copyright is a form of protection grounded in the U.S. Constitution and granted by law for original works of authorship.  The current copyright law, the Copyright Act of 1976, is codified in Title 17 of the U.S. Code.

 Copyright law assures ownership, which comes with several rights, that the author has exclusively. For example: › Make copies of the work › Distribute copies of the work › Perform the work publicly › Display the work publicly › Make derivative works

 Copyright holder may grant permission or license anyone else to do these things, without affecting their ownership of the actual copyright in their work. For example, an author may permit a television adaptation of their book to be made and broadcast.

 The law provides certain ways in which copyright works may be used without the need to first obtain permission from the copyright holder - these include: › Fair use (e.g. to make copies) › Public domain › Library privilege › Copying for examinations and copying for instruction

 Copyright covers both published and unpublished works.  Copyright protection is automatic at the moment the work is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible.

 Literary works  Dramatic works  Musical works  Artistic works

Not everything is protected by copyright law.  Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation.

 Copyright protects original works of authorship, while a patent protects inventions or discoveries.  A trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, or designs identifying the source of the goods or services of one party and distinguishing them from those of others.

 They want to provide “universal access” to research, education and culture.  Copyright was created long before the emergence of the Internet, and can make it hard to legally perform actions we take for granted on the network: copy, paste, edit source, and post to the Web.  The default setting of copyright law requires all of these actions to have explicit permission, granted in advance, whether you’re an artist, teacher, scientist, librarian, policymaker, or just a regular user.  In order for Creative Commons to achieve the vision of universal access. They provide a free, public, and standardized infrastructure that creates a balance between the reality of the Internet and the reality of copyright laws.

 Under the Teach Act, the Copyright law provides educators with a separate set of rights in addition to fair use, to display and perform others´ works in the classroom.  These rights are entitled in Section 110(1) of the Copyright Act, and apply to any original work an educator wants to use.