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And then there's Copyright
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Copyright insures that the person who
created something--whether a book or a piece of music--is reimbursed
for his intellectual work. If there were no copyright protection,
there would be no economic incentive to create these works. |
A copyright is a set of legal rights that an author has over his work
for a limited period of time. Copyright covers everything from using images
or sound files from the Web to photocopying.
Most information is protected by copyright. The exception is work that
is in the "public domain, " which can be reproduced or used
by anyone. However, you still must credit the author. Some examples of
public domain sources:
| Public Domain Sources |
Examples |
| Publications of the U.S. Government |
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U.S. laws and other publications of the Federal
government, the U.S. Constitution |
| Copyright has been waived by the author. |
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Software called freeware |
| Works on which the copyright has expired |
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Works by William Shakespeare |
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