COPYRIGHT

Piracy is a major problem Worldwide and it does affect the industries like software, television and movies. Being the creator of some artistic work, definitely you would not want it to be used by someone else in the public. Isn’t it??? Of course your answer would be YES. But many people are unaware about the whole process. Let’s summarize it very concisely so that you can be the sole owner of your work. What exactly is this tool or process? This protective layer is termed as copyright. Yes! You need to get the copyright for your efforts and hard work. Fundamentally, Copyright is the law which gives you the complete ownership for the things you have created. It may be a painting, novel, poem, music or photograph.

Fundamentally, copyright is a law that gives you ownership over the things you create. Be it a painting, a photograph, a poem or a novel, if you created it, you own it and it’s the copyright law itself that assures that ownership. The ownership that copyright law grants comes with several rights that you, as the owner, have exclusively. The rights include as mentioned below:

• The right of reproducing the work
• The right to prepare derivative works
• The right to distribute copies
• The right to perform the work
• The right to display the work publicly

These rights belong to the owner alone. Unless the owner willingly gives them up, no one can violate them legally.

On the other hand if one is looking for material to use or reuse, you should not do any of these things without either asking permission from the owner or confirming that the work is available in the public domain, which means that the copyright has been expired and all of the rights mentioned above have been forfeited. Simply put, if the work isn’t in the public domain and you don’t have permission to use a piece, you put yourself in risk of legal action, regardless of your intentions.