Copyright describes the way in which the owner of a created work (usually, but not always, the person who created it) controls how that work can be used. This can include selling copies of the work, adapting the work (for example, a book into a movie), charging people the right to see or hear the work performed (for example. by musicians on a world tour), and other ways. To use a copyrighted work, in whole or in part, requires permission from the copyright holder, and sometimes a fee paid by the person or organization who wants to use the work.
How long a work's owner has copyright is a complex question in the United States: the answer depends on when a work was created and under what context. Once a work's copyright has expired, it enters the public domain, where anyone can do whatever they want with it.
Copyright permits the use of part of a copyrighted work for free and without permission from copyright holder, but only for the purposes of:
Under this part of copyright law, the use of a copy of a journal article for a student's research falls under fair use.
What you can do: |
What you can't do: |
| Keep the material (forever, for digital copies of articles) | Sell the material or copies of it for your own personal profit |
| Cite the material in a research project | Claim the ideas and information in the work as your own |
| Read the material for your own education or enjoyment without the copyright owner's written permission | Adapt or perform your own version of the work without the copyright owner's written permission |
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