Copyright is a protection that covers published and unpublished literary, scientific, artistic works or design projects, whatever the form of expression, fixed in a project or material form. This means that if you can see it, hear it and/or touch it – the work or product may be protected. If it is an essay, if it is a play, if it is a song, if it is a funky original dance move, if it is a photograph, HTML coding or a computer graphic that can be set on paper, recorded on tape or saved to a hard drive, it may be protected. Copyright laws grant the creator the exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform and display the work publicly. Exclusive means only the creator of this work, not anybody who has access to it and decides to grab it.
Copyright also is a legal concept that gives the author or creator of an original work the exclusive right to do certain things with that original work. The author has the right to choose if anyone else can use, adapt or resell their work and has the right to be credited for that work.
Copyright protection is principally given to works that are literary, dramatic, artistic and musical works, cinematographic film, and television and sound broadcasts.
Only the holder of a work may do the these things:
• Make copies of the work and distribute it.
• Create derivative works or alter the work.
• Sell the work in either its original version or in an altered form.
• The author or creator of a work owns the copyright in the work.
• The broadcaster owns the copyright in a broadcast.
• A publisher owns the copyright in a published edition.
What is Copyright
What is a Registered Design?
Design Copyright
UK Intellectual Property
The U.S. Copyright Office
The creator of a work retains copyright to it even if they do not expressly tell you so.