Copyright

cop·y·right   (kŏp'ē-rīt')    n.   Abbr. c. or cop. The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work. adj.   Of or relating to a copyright: copyright law; a copyright agreement. Protected by copyright: permission to publish copyright material. tr.v.   cop·y·right·ed, cop·y·right·ing, cop·y·rights To secure a copyright for. cop'y·right'a·ble adj., cop'y·right'er n.

copyright

The legal protection given to published works, forbidding anyone but the author from publishing or selling them. An author can transfer the copyright to another person or corporation, such as a publishing company.

Note: The symbol for copyright is ©rt;.

Main Entry: ¹copy·right
Pronunciation: 'kä-pE-"rIt
Function: noun
: a person's exclusive right to reproduce, publish, or sell his or her original work of authorship (as a literary, musical, dramatic, artistic, or architectural work) —see also COMMON-LAW COPYRIGHT, fair use at USE 2, INFRINGE intellectual property at PROPERTY, INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, ORIGINAL, PUBLIC DOMAIN —compare PATENT, TRADEMARK
NOTE: Copyrights are governed by the Copyright Act of 1976 contained in title 17 of the U.S. Code. The Act protects published or unpublished works that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression from which they can be perceived. The Act does not protect matters such as an idea, process, system, or discovery. Protection under the Act extends for the life of the creator of the work plus fifty years after his or her death. For works created before January 1, 1978, but not copyrighted or in the public domain, the copyright starts on January 1, 1978, and extends for the same period as for other works, but in any case will not expire before December 31, 2002. Prior to the enactment of the Act, copyright protection was available for unpublished works only under common law. The Act abolishes the common-law rights, as well as any rights available under state statute, in favor of the rights available under the provisions of the Act. The Act provides for certain exceptions, however, including rights to protection for works not fixed in a tangible medium of expression, and rights regarding any cause of action arising from events occurring before January 1, 1978. —copyright adjective

copyright legal
The exclusive rights of the owner of the copyright on a work to make and distribute copies, prepare derivative works, and perform and display the work in public (these last two mainly apply to plays, films, dances and the like, but could also apply to software).
A work, including a piece of software, is under copyright by default in most coutries, whether of not it displays a copyright notice. However, a copyright notice may make it easier to assert ownership. The copyright owner is the person or company whose name appears in the copyright notice on the box, or the disk or the screen or wherever.
A copyright notice has three parts. The first can be either a c with a circle around it (LaTeX \copyright), or the word Copyright or the abbreviation Copr. A "c" in parentheses: "(c)" has no legal meaning. This is followed by the name of the copyright holder and the year of first publication.
Countries around the world have agreed to recognise and uphold each others' copyrights, but this world-wide protection requires the use of the c in a circle.
Originally, most of the computer industry assumed that only the program's underlying instructions were protected under copyright law but, beginning in the early 1980s, a series of lawsuits involving the video screens of game programs extended protections to the appearance of programs.
Use of copyright to restrict redistribution is immoral, unethical and illegitimate. It is a result of brainwashing by monopolists and corporate interests and it violates everyone's rights. Copyrights and patents hamper technological progress by making a naturally abundant resource scarce. Many, from communists to right wing libertarians, are trying to abolish intellectual property myths.
See also public domain, copyleft, software law.
US Copyright Office Circular 61 - Copyright Registration for Computer Programs.
The US Department of Education's "How Does Copyright Law Apply to Computer Software".
Usenet newsgroup: misc.legal.computing.
[Is this definition correct in the UK? In the US? Elsewhere?]
(2000-03-23)