Tuesday, March 4, 2008

What Is Copyright?

Copyright was originally conceived as a means for the government to restrict printing. It is defined as the legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher or the exclusive distributor for the production or publication of their original works. Work that is not copyright is known to be available in the public domain and anyone is free to access these works and use it without asking permission from the original creator.

Any work protected by copyright, is often indicated with a 'c' with a circle around it (which is the copyright symbol), or the word "Copyright", the name of the holder copyright and the First year of publication.

The copyright laws are governed by the Act on Copyright 1976 and the work granted by copyright (for any work created after January 1, 1978) is protected for the life of the creator of 'work, more than fifty years after his death. But for any work created before January 1, 1978 (before the promulgation of the law of copyright), the copyright to start on January 1, 1978 and extends through December 31, 2002. Before the promulgation of the law on copyright, common law of copyright protection granted to all forms of unpublished works. However, after the promulgation of the law on copyright, the rights made available by the common law was abolished.

Many believe that in order to limit the flow of resources based on knowledge from one generation to another using copyrights and patents is ethically and morally incorrect and reflects a monopolistic nature to protect the commercial interests Countries rich and influential.

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