Definition:
Copyright is the set of rights that protects original literary, artistic and scientific works and allows their authors or other right holders to decide on certain uses, such as reproduction, distribution, communication to the public or adaptation.
Protection applies to the particular expression of a work, not to the ideas, facts, methods or concepts it contains. Its scope, term and exceptions depend on the applicable law. Civil-law systems commonly use the term author’s right, a concept closely related to copyright but not identical in every respect.
How copyright works
Protection usually arises automatically when an original work is expressed in a recognisable form. Registration and the © symbol do not create copyright by themselves, although they may help identify the right holder and provide evidence or support enforcement, depending on the country.
The right holder may authorise, prohibit or set conditions for activities such as copying, distributing, communicating, translating or adapting the work. Economic rights can also be licensed or transferred. Moral rights, including attribution and protection against certain alterations, vary between legal systems and cannot always be transferred.
Works protected by copyright
Copyright can apply to both published and unpublished works. Creations that commonly qualify for protection include:
- Written and dramatic works: Books, articles, scripts, poems and plays.
- Visual and audiovisual creations: Photographs, illustrations, paintings, sculptures, films and documentaries.
- Music: Compositions and lyrics, alongside separate rights that may apply to performances and recordings.
- Architecture and applied art: Designs, plans and certain creative expressions incorporated into objects or buildings.
- Software and compilations: Computer programs can be protected as literary works. For databases, copyright may protect the original selection or arrangement of their contents, but it does not make the underlying data the property of the database creator.
Protection requires originality, but a work does not need to be novel in the way an invention does. Inventions fall within patent law, while trade marks identify goods or services; neither is protected by copyright merely because it exists.
Limitations and term
Exclusive rights are not absolute. National laws provide limitations and exceptions that may permit certain uses, including quotation, teaching, reporting current events or parody. The requirements vary by country and by the particular use, so not every reuse needs permission and not every copy is permitted.
Protection also lasts for a limited period. The term depends on the jurisdiction, the type of work and circumstances such as authorship. When economic rights expire, the work enters the public domain and can be used without the permission those rights previously required, although other legal duties may still apply.
Origins and international framework
Modern copyright took shape as printing and the commercial circulation of works expanded. The Statute of Anne, enacted in Great Britain in 1710, is widely regarded as an early modern copyright statute because it recognised authors’ rights for a limited period.
The Berne Convention of 1886 established international principles including automatic protection and national treatment for works originating in member countries. The TRIPS Agreement, effective from 1995 within the World Trade Organization framework, later brought intellectual property obligations into the multilateral trading system and confirmed protection for computer programs and certain data compilations.
Licensing and copyleft
Copyright does not require every use to be reserved. A right holder can grant permission through a licence and specify whether copying, adaptation, distribution or commercial use is allowed. Creative Commons licences provide standardised options for creative works, while software licences use their own terms.
Copyleft uses copyright to grant freedoms and require certain derivative works or redistributions to preserve those freedoms. It therefore does not remove copyright or place a work in the public domain: it is a particular way of exercising rights through a licence.