Copyright, defined by
copyright.gov, is “a form of protection provided by the laws of the United
States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of original works of authorship,
including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual
works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.” A
copyright takes effect immediately after any creative work becomes
tangible—meaning anything that is not merely an idea but has actually been
created (images, content, fonts, etc.). The author of the work automatically
has exclusive rights to it. Therefore, anyone who uses the work, without
consent, is committing copyright infringement.
According to copyright.gov
there are eight, general categories of copyrightable works:
1.
Literary works
2.
Musical works
3.
Dramatic works
4.
Pantomimes and
choreographic works
5.
Pictorial,
graphic, and sculptural works
6.
Motion
pictures and other audiovisual works
7.
Sound
recordings
8.
Architectural
works
As stated above, these are
general categories. Accordingly, they should be viewed broadly in terms of what
each of them encompass.
With the definition of
copyright in mind, it’s only logical to assume that everything you find on the
Internet is under copyright restrictions. However, this does not mean you
cannot use them. For example, some websites provide images that are intended for
use by others. Often times in cases like this you either pay a royalty fee for
use of the image or the owner of the copyrighted image instructs you on how
they would like for you to give them credit.
Source: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf
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