Copyright 101: Just What Is It, Anyway?
By Heather Faucher | Posted on June 11, 2009 | Filed Under Copyrights
So, what exactly is copyright, anyway? Copyright is basically the legal exclusive right of an author of a creative work to control the copying of that work. Copyright law grants that creator the exclusive right to control who can make copies or derivative works based on that original work. Creators can also sell or license that right, whether before or after creating the work.
In order for something to qualify as a creative work, it must exist in tangible form– in other words, it has to be on disk, paper, some artistic medium such as sculptures or similar. It has to be creative as opposed to just factual data. Most things people write, photograph, sculpt, draw, or record qualify as creative, although verbal work isn’t copyrighted until it’s put onto tape, i.e. tangible form.
Under the Berne copyright convention, which almost all major nations have signed, creative work is copyrighted at the very moment its creator fixes in tangible form. Registration is not necessary for the copyright to exist, although those wishing to sue will need to first register the copyright. Copyright lasts until 70 years after the death of the author. It should be noted that facts and ideas cannot be copyrighted, only creative expressions.
At its most basic, copyright has to do with commerce. Most people believe that by allowing people to copyright their creative works and make money from them, it encourages them to continue creating works that can be enjoyed by society at large. After all, we all have to pay the bills–professional artists and writers no less than teachers and firefighters! In order to be enforced, copyrights must have some monetary value.
Of course, the fair use doctrine provides for certain copying without permission. For instance, a film critic is allowed to include a clip from a film in her review to illustrate a point. Since filmmakers would be highly unlikely to grant negative reviewers permission to use their clips, the fair use exemption was employed to prevent people from using copyright to stifle criticism.
People engaging in actions such as commenting on a copyrighted work, criticizing it, teaching about it or researching it, are free to make some limited use of the work without permission. Students, for example, can quote excerpts to show how poor the writing is.  Teachers can teach poetry classes and quote favorite poems to the class while doing so. Some people seem to think fair use is a wholesale license to copy copyrighted work as long as they aren’t making money off of it or if they work in education, but that’s just not true. Fair use exemptions are finite and should be considered carefully before being used. Better safe than sorry!
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