What is copyright

1. What is copyright

Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works” and includes such things as literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual creations, both published and unpublished. Copyright does not protect ideas. It only protects the specific and original expression of the idea. A good example of this is that there are many films and books based on the classic boy meets girl theme in which the girl’s parents disapprove of boy and after many tears, true love finally triumphs. This theme cannot be monopolised, but original works to it can be. The same can be said of all other works.

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2. What is fair use

Fair use is a copyright principle based on the belief that the public is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials forpurposes of commentary and criticism. For example, if you wish to criticize a novelist, you should have the freedom to quote a portion of the novelist's work without asking permission. Absent this freedom, copyright owners could stifle any negative comments about their work.
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3.What is patent

A patent is a right granted for any device, substance, method or process which is new, inventive and useful.

A patent is legally enforceable and gives the owner the exclusive right to commercially exploit the invention for the life of the patent. This is not automatic-you must apply for a patent to obtain exclusive rights to exploit your invention. Kambrook learned this the hard way.

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4. What is not copyright - protected

 1. Pre-existing material

Copyright protection for a work does not extend to pre-existing material. It is only provided for those portions of a work that result from original authorship.

2. Facts

The Unites States Code does not specifically identify "facts" as being exempt from protection. Rather, it states, "In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work." The U.S. Supreme Court, in Feist vs. Rural Telephone, says that this is "universally"  understood to exclude facts, as well. 

3. Ideas, Principles, and Concepts

deas, principles, and concepts are specifically excluded from copyright protection. If they weren't, then the first person who wrote a romance novel would have a monopoly.  

4.Procedures, processes, systems, or method of operation

A simple example of this would be a recipe. A basic recipe is a procedure for the process of producing something to eat. A recipe that is nothing more than that will not be protected by copyright law. When a recipe is written in an original, descriptive fashion, then those elements of the recipe that embody the description are protected.

5.Public Domain

A work in the public domain belongs to everyone and is not protected by copyright.  Once material lapses or is placed into public domain, it will always remain in the public domain.

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