November 8, 2010

What is Copyright?

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. The exclusive rights are however balanced for public interest purposes with limitations and exceptions to the exclusive right - such as fair dealing and fair use. Copyright theory says that it is the balance between the exclusive rights and the limitations and exceptions that engenders creativity. Copyright does not protect ideas, only their expression or fixation. In most jurisdictions copyright arises upon fixation and does not need to be registered. Copyright owners have the exclusive statutory right to exercise control over copying and other exploitation of the works for a specific period of time, after which the work is said to enter the public domain. Uses which are covered under limitations and exceptions to copyright, such as fair use, do not require permission from the copyright owner. All other uses require permission and copyright owners can license or permanently transfer or assign their exclusive rights to others.


2. What is fair use?

Answer: Fair use, a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work, is a doctrine in United States copyright  that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders. For example, such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship.

3. What is patent?

Answer:  A patent  is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state (national government) to an inventor or their assignees for a limited period of time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention. For example, such as  the procedure for granting patents, the requirements placed on the patented, and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements.

4. Why some inventions can not be copyrights?

Answer: Because the several categories of material are generally not eligible for copyright protection, such as works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent

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