Copyright is a legal right under intellectual property law. Copyright grants the creator of an original work such as a song, novel or movie certain exclusive rights for a limited amount of time to protect a creative work from unauthorized use. After a certain amount of time set by law the creative work is no longer protected by exclusive rights and falls into the public domain.

Copyright is not an absolute economic monopoly. Limitations and exceptions to copyright law can limit the exclusive rights protection. Such legal limitations may include parody, fair use and right to quote. One of the largest limitations on copyright protection is that copyright can only protect the original expression of ideas but not the underlying ideas. This concept is known as the idea–expression divide.

Copyright should not be confused with other legal protections of intellectual property such as patent, trademark or trade secret.

Photo Source: gehreslaw.com

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