Copyright is the exclusive legal right given to creators to control their original works. It applies to various forms of media and creations including books, music, art, films and more. While facts and ideas cannot be copyrighted, specific expressions of them can. Copyright allows creators to profit from their works and defend their integrity. However, fair use and private use exceptions exist. Piracy violates copyright by illegally copying and sharing protected works without permission. Sites like The Pirate Bay facilitate widespread piracy but claim to be protecting sharing. Various copyright myths are dispelled in the document as well.

1. Copyright

2. The dictionary definition
The exclusive legal right, given to an originator
to print, publish, perform, film, or record
literary, artistic, or musical material, and to
authorize others to do the same.

3. What can and can’t be
copyrighted
Can
• Books
Can’t
•Thoughts
• Paintings
•Ideas
• Maps
•Spoken word (unless
• Musical compositions
recorded)
• Dramatic works
•A name (however can be
• Photographs
trademarked)
• Paintings
•Facts
• Prints
• Sculptures
• motion pictures
• Computer programs
• Sound recordings
• Chorography
• Architectural work
• Engravings

4. The benefits
• To have control over the work you create
• To make sure your work is used in the way you
intended and/or approve of.
• To get recognition for the time and effort you
have put into the creation.
• Also to be able to make money from your
creation.

5. Fair use
• Copyright does not prohibit all copying or replication of
creations.
• In the US in the Copyright Act of 1976 the fair use doctrine
permits some copying and distribution without the
permission of the copyright holder.
• The statute does not clearly define fair use but instead
gives factors to consider in fair use analysis.
• In the UK, a similar notion of fair use was established
thorough legislation.
• The concept of fair use can be confusing and complicated
to understand. However in Canada, private copying for
personal use has been permitted since 1999.

6. Copyright and Piracy
• Piracy is considered to be the illegitimate use of
materials held by copyright.
• Piracy primarily targets software, film and music.
• File sharing software like “Limewire” and “The
Pirate bay” are one of the main ways which
music, films and software are “shared” or in
official terms Pirated as work passed from person
to person (peer to peer) for free with no
recognition given to the creator.

7. The Pirate Bay
• The Pirate Bay (commonly abbreviated TPB) is a Swedish
website which hosts links and torrent files, which allow
users to share electronic files, including
multimedia, computer games and software via BitTorrent.
The Pirate Bay bills itself as "The world's most resilient
BitTorrent site"and is currently ranked as the 85th most
visited website in the world and 17th in Sweden, has over
5 million registered users and, as of 2011 and it hosts more
than 3.5 million torrent files. According to the Los Angeles
Times, The Pirate Bay is "one of the world's largest
facilitators of illegal downloading" and "the most visible
member of a burgeoning international anti-copyright or
pro-piracy movement"

8. True or False?
If it doesn’t have a copyright notice its not
copyrighted.
False. Although true in the past but today all
major nations follow the Berne copyright
convention. You should always assume other
peoples work is copyrighted, unless you know
otherwise.

9. True or False?
If I don’t charge for my creation which includes other
peoples copyrighted work its not a violation.
False. Whether you charge can affect the damages
awarded in court but its still seen as a violation if you
give it away for free. And there can be serious
damages if you hurt the commercial value or integrity
of the creation.
However if the work has no commercial value, the
violation is mostly technical and is unlikely to end in
legal action.

10. True or False?
You don’t have to defend your copyright to
legally keep it.
True. Copyright is effectively never lost, unless
explicitly given away. Although in some cases
it can “run out” 70 years after the death of the
creator.

11. True or False?
If I make up my own creation but base it on
another persons work, my new work belongs to
me e.g. A computer game with characters based
from someone else's book.
False. Copyright law is quite explicit that the making
of what is called “derivative works” (works based
or derived from another copyrighted work). The
new work belongs to the original creator no
matter how hard/long/expensive the creative
process was.

12. Bibliography
Images and facts from
• http://musically.com
• http://musicbusinesshacker.com
• http://iammusicuk.tumblr.com
• http://technologyblogged.com
• http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_views/w
hat_is_copyright.html
• http://templetons.com