The scope of Copyright
August 24, 2009
Intellectual Property News and Interesting Facts
Copyright may apply to a wide range of creative, intellectual, scientific, or artistic forms, or “works”.
Specifics vary by jurisdiction, but these can include poems, theses, plays, other literary works, movies, dances, musical compositions, audio recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, software, radio and television and broadcasts.
Copyright does not cover ideas and information themselves, only the form or manner in which they are expressed.
For example, the copyright to a Mickey Mouse cartoon restricts others from making copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works based on Disney’s particular anthropomorphic mouse, but it does not prohibit the creation of other works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they’re not copies or adaptations of Disney’s mouse.
In many jurisdictions, copyright law makes exceptions to these restrictions when the work is copied for the purpose of commentary or other related uses.
More articles about Software related Intellectual Property:
Copyright Infringement of Software is a Widespread Problem
Digital Freedom under the Spotlight
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