National IPR Coordination Center. Copyright & Fair Use - Copyright Basics FAQ. These frequently asked questions explain what a copyright is and what exactly it protects.
What types of creative work does copyright protect? Copyright protects works such as poetry, movies, CD-ROMs, video games, videos, plays, paintings, sheet music, recorded music performances, novels, software code, sculptures, photographs, choreography and architectural designs. To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be “fixed in a tangible medium of expression.” This means that the work must exist in some physical form for at least some period of time, no matter how brief. Virtually any form of expression will qualify as a tangible medium, including a computer’s random access memory (RAM), the recording media that capture all radio and television broadcasts, and the scribbled notes on the back of an envelope that contain the basis for an impromptu speech. In addition, the work must be original — that is, independently created by the author. Does copyright protect an author’s creative ideas?
Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center. The Creative Commons and Photography. Though it's been around for much longer than most people realize, the Creative Commons has been getting some traction in the photography world.
With a boost of visibility by the prominence of flickr.com, more people are assigning one of four variations of licensing terms described by the Creative Commons to their photographs, which means that they are making their photos "free to use" under some minimally intrusive restrictions, such as giving photo credit ("attribution"). Is it making headway? As of December 31, 2007, Flickr's 21 million users uploaded over 2 billions photos. Of those, 56,415,212 (or 2.8%) are tagged as having one of the Creative Commons licenses. For comparison, Getty Images is purported to have about 2 million photos. Does this mean the end of the paid-for photo licensing business? The benefits of free. Let's set our way-back machine to the mid-1980s, and visit a guy named Richard Stallman.
Here is a very simple example: The dominoes don't stop falling there. Broadcast Yourself. What is copyright? Copyright is a form of protection provided for original works of authorship, including literary, dramatic, musical, graphic and audiovisual creations. "Copyright" literally means the right to copy, but has come to mean that body of exclusive rights granted by law to copyright owners for protection of their work. What is copyright infringement? Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner. Posting copyright-infringing content can lead to the termination of your account, and possibly monetary damages if a copyright owner decides to take legal action (this is serious—you can get sued!). As a general matter, we at YouTube respect the rights of artists and creators, and hope you will work with us to keep our community a creative, legal and positive experience for everyone, including artists and creators.
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