Copyright - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 History Toggle History subsection 1.1 Background 1.2 Conception 1.3 National copyrights 1.4 Continental law 1.5 International copyright treaties 2 Obtaining protection Toggle Obtaining protection subsection 2.1 Ownership 2.2 Eligible works 2.3 Originality 2.4 Registration 2.5 Fixing 2.6 Copyright notice 2.7 Publisher's copyright 3 Enforcement Toggle Enforcement subsection 3.1 Self-enforcement measures 3.2 Copyright infringement 4 Rights granted Toggle Rights granted subsection 4.1 Economic rights 4.2 Moral rights 4.3 Duration 5 Limitations and exceptions Toggle Limitations and exceptions subsection 5.1 Idea–expression dichotomy and the merger doctrine 5.2 The first-sale doctrine and exhaustion of rights 5.3 Fair use and fair dealing 5.4 Accessible copies 5.5 Religious Service Exemption 5.6 Useful articles 6 Transfer, assignment and licensing Toggle Transfer, assignment and licensing subsection 6.1 Free licenses 7 Criticism 8 Public domain 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links Toggle the table of contents Copyright 121 languages Afrikaans Alemannisch Aragonés Ænglisc العربية অসমীয়া Asturianu Azərbaycanca Boarisch Беларуская (тарашкевіца) Беларуская Betawi Български भोजपुरी বাংলা Bosanski Català Cebuano Chamoru کوردی Čeština Чӑвашла Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara فارسی Suomi Føroyskt Français Frysk Gaeilge Galego گیلکی עברית हिन्दी Hrvatski Magyar Հայերեն Interlingua Bahasa Indonesia Ilokano Ido Íslenska Medžuslovjansky Italiano 日本語 Jawa ქართული Қазақша Yerwa Kanuri 한국어 کٲشُر Kurdî Кыргызча Latina Lëtzebuergesch Limburgs ລາວ Lietuvių Latviešu Basa Banyumasan Māori Minangkabau Македонски മലയാളം Монгол Bahasa Melayu မြန်မာဘာသာ Nedersaksies नेपाली Nederlands Norsk nynorsk Norsk bokmål Occitan ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Papiamentu Polski Piemontèis پښتو Português Română Русский Sicilianu Scots سنڌي Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Anarâškielâ Shqip Српски / srpski Sunda Svenska Kiswahili தமிழ் తెలుగు Тоҷикӣ ไทย Tagalog Türkçe Українська اردو Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Vèneto Tiếng Việt Walon 吴语 მარგალური ייִדיש Yorùbá Vahcuengh 粵語 中文 IsiZulu Edit links Article Talk English Read View source View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read View source View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Wikinews Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Legal concept regulating rights of a creative work "Copyrighting" redirects here; not to be confused with Copywriting. This article is about the legal right. For the symbol, see Copyright symbol. For the band, see Copyright (band). For the Wikipedia policy, see Wikipedia:Copyrights. "Non-free content" redirects here. For the Wikipedia guideline, see Wikipedia:Non-free content. Intellectual property Authors' rights Copyleft Copyright Database right Farmers' rights Geographical indication Indigenous intellectual property Industrial design right Integrated circuit layout design protection Intellectual property infringement Literary property Moral rights Patent Peasants' rights Plant breeders' rights Plant genetic resources Proprietary software Related rights Sound recording copyright Supplementary protection certificate Trade dress Trade secret Trademark Utility model Patent infringement Related topics Abandonware Artificial intelligence and copyright Brand protection Copyright abolition Copyright troll Criticism of copyright Bioprospecting Biopiracy Idea–expression distinction Limitations and exceptions to copyright Fair dealing Fair use Paraphrasing Right to quote Orphan work Patent troll Pirate Party Public domain Outline of intellectual property Outline of patents Higher categories: Property and Property law v t e A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time.[1][2][3][4][5] The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. Copyright is intended to protect the original expression of an idea in the form of a creative work, but not the idea itself.[6][7][8] A copyright is subject to limitations based on public interest considerations, such as the fair use doctrine in the United States and fair dealing doctrine in the United Kingdom. Some jurisdictions require "fixing" copyrighted works in a tangible form. It is often shared among multiple authors, each of whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to as rights holders.[9][10][11][12][13] These rights normally include reproduction, control over derivative works, distribution, public performance, and moral rights such as attribution.[14] Copyrights can be granted by public law and are in that case considered "territorial rights". This means that copyrights granted by the law of a certain state do not extend beyond the territory of that specific jurisdiction. Copyrights of this type vary by country; many countries, and sometimes a large group of countries, have made agreements with other countries on procedures applicable when works "cross" national borders or national rights are inconsistent.[15] Typically, the public law duration of a copyright expires 50 to 100 years after the creator dies, depending on the jurisdiction. Some countries require certain copyright formalities[5] to establishing copyright, others recognize copyright in any completed work, without a formal registration. When the copyright of a work expires, it enters the public domain. History Main article: History of copyright European output of books before the advent of copyright, 6th century to 18th century. Blue shows printed books. Log-lin plot; a straight line therefore shows an exponential increase. Background The concept of copyright developed after the printing press came into use in Europe[16] in the 15th and 16th centuries.[17] It was associated with a common law and rooted in the civil law system.[18] The printing press made it much cheaper to produce works, but as there was initially no copyright law, anyone could buy or rent a press and print any text. Popular new works were immediately re-set and re-published by competitors, so printers needed a constant stream of new material. Fees paid to authors for new works were high and significantly supplemented the incomes of many academics.[19] Printing brought profound social changes. The rise in literacy across Europe led to a dramatic increase in the demand for reading matter.[16] Prices of reprints were low, so publications could be bought by poorer people, creating a mass audience. In German-language markets before the advent of copyright, technical materials, like academic papers and handbooks, were inexpensive and widely available; it has been suggested this contributed to Germany's industrial and economic success.[19] Conception The concept of copyright first developed in England. In reaction to the printing of "scandalous books and pamphlets", the English Parliament passed the Licensing of the Press Act 1662,[16] which required all intended publications to be registered with the government-approved Stationers' Company, giving the Stationers the right to regulate what material could be printed.[20] The Statute of Anne, enacted in 1710 in England and Scotland, provided the first legislation to protect copyrights (but not authors' rights). The Copyright Act 1814 extended more rights for authors but did not protect British publications from being reprinted in the US. The Berne International Copyright Convention of 1886 finally provided protection for authors among the countries who signed the agreement, although the US did not join the Berne Convention until 1989.[21] In the US, the Constitution grants Congress the right to establish copyright and patent laws. Shortly after the Constitution was passed, Congress enacted the Copyright Act of 1790, modeling it after the Statute of Anne. While the national law protected authors' published works, authority was granted to the states to protect authors' unpublished works. The most recent major overhaul of copyright in the US, the Copyright Act of 1976, extended federal copyright to works as soon as they are created and "fixed", without requiring publication or registration. State law continues to apply to unpublished works that are not otherwise copyrighted by federal law. This act also changed the calculation of copyright term from a fixed term (then a maximum of fifty-six years) to "life of the author plus 50 years". These changes brought the US closer to conformity with the Berne Convention, and in 1989 the United States further revised its copyright law and joined the Berne Convention officially.[21] Copyright laws allow products of creative human activities, such as literary and artistic production, to be preferentially exploited and thus incentivized. Different cultural attitudes, social organizations, economic models and legal frameworks are seen to account for why copyright emerged in Europe and not, for example, in Asia. In the Middle Ages in Europe, there was generally a lack of any concept of literary property due to the general relations of production, the specific organization of literary production and the role of culture in society. The latter refers to the tendency of oral societies, such as that of Europe in the medieval period, to view knowledge as the product and expression of the collective, rather than to see it as individual property. However, with copyright laws, intellectual production comes to be seen as a product of an individual, with attendant rights. The most significant point is that patent and copyright laws support the expansion of the range of creative human activities that can be commodified. This parallels the ways in which capitalism led to the commodification of many aspects of social life that earlier had no monetary or economic value per se.[22] Copyright has developed into a concept that has a significant effect on nearly every modern industry, including not just literary work, but also forms of creative work such as sound recordings, films, photographs, software, and architecture. National copyrights See also: Statute of Anne and History of copyright law of the United States The Statute of Anne (the Copyright Act 1709) came into force in 1710. Often seen as the first real copyright law, the 1709 British Statute of Anne gave authors and the publishers to whom they did chose to license their works, the right to publish the author's creations for a fixed period, after which the copyright expired.[23] It was "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by Vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or the Purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned." The act also alluded to individual rights of the artist. It began: "Whereas Printers, Booksellers, and other Persons, have of late frequently taken the Liberty…