Copyright Basics
What is Copyright?
Put simply, copyright is a body of law that protects creative works from copying. It is, at its heart, the right to copy. Getting more specific, it is the exclusive right of any “author” to copy, distribute, sell, or publish a work. Copyright covers a wide range of things…writing, art, film, music, photography, and even computer software may be subject to copyright. It also covers the right to create “derivative works. The clearest example of a derivative work is something like a film adaptation of a book, but things like fanart, cosplay, or fanfic can also be derivative works.
What Isn’t Protected by Copyright?
Copyright DOESN’T protect single words or other “building blocks.” So you absolutely can’t copyright a word, though depending on the situation, that might be a trademark. Copyright can protect a work that INCLUDES a single word or phrase (it would be pretty hard for anything to fall under it if not!) but that doesn’t mean the word or phrase is protected in isolation. It is only protected as part of the whole.
Similarly, copyright doesn’t protect scientific inventions, processes, or the utilitarian or mechanical functions of a functional object. Fashion, for example, isn’t generally subject to copyright because so much of it is tied to the function of the garment, but the print on fabric can absolutely be protected.
How Do You Get a Copyright?
Copyright actually attaches to a work upon creation…nothing else is needed. So if you wrote a story, it’s protected by copyright, no matter what you do with it. If you make something that can be protected by copyright, then you have copyright. That said, there are very real benefits to registering your copyright, particularly if you eventually need to take steps to legally enforce that copyright, so that’s something to consider. We’ll talk more about the benefits of copyright registration elsewhere, but for now know that, while it isn’t required for obtaining copyright, it CAN be necessary in certain cases for enforcing it.
Copyright Term
Copyright DOES eventually expire, but in the US, that doesn’t currently happen until 70 years after the “author” (which is the term the law used for the creator, regardless of the medium) dies. If the work was created as a “work for hire” which is a work created by a company (think a Disney movie), then it’s 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever comes first. This means that Shakespeare plays? Those are out of copyright…but your favorite TV show…absolutely not, and it won’t be for quite some time.
