What Is A Copyright?

The copyright is a set of exclusive rights, which are granted by governments that regulate the use of a specific expression, idea, word, or information. It's most basic meaning is literally "the right to copy" an original creation, including the written word, logos, drawings, and even catch-phases. The length of the duration of the copyright in many instances is limited, for instance, in the United States and in Spain, the copyright is the life of the author plus seventy years. The symbols for copyright are ©, or (C).

Copyright may exist in a wide range of works including poems, theses, plays, written speeches, novels, books, news articles, and other literary pieces. Copyright may also exist in movies, choreographic works, musical compositions, audio recordings,
paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, software, radio and television broadcasts of live or taped performances, as well as in some jurisdictions and industrial designs.

Copyright laws protect only the actual form or manner in which ideas or information have been observed, such as the lyrics or melody of a song, and does not cover the actual idea, concepts, facts associated with, styles, techniques, or deliverance
that may be personified or represented by the copyright work. Copyright laws do provide a range for satirical or interpretation of the work, however these may also be copyrighted. An example of this would be the copyright, which the Disney Corporation has on its cartoon characters that prohibits any unauthorized parties from coping, distributing, or creating works that copy or mimics them in way. However, the copyright
does not prohibit the creation of any artistic works concerning mice, elephants, ducks, dogs, etc in general, so long as these do not resemble any of Disney's cartoon characters. Laws governing trademarks and patents may impose legal restrictions on reproduction or use that the copyright does not govern.

The above information was obtained from the United States Copyright office. Their website is: copyright.gov

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