Copyright, Copyleft…copy copy copy
A hot topic around town these days is the idea of Copyleft…which would be the opposite of Copyright…
According to the dictionary copyright is…
cop·y·right [kop-ee-rahyt]
–noun
| 1. | the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death. |
So the definition of copyleft is…
cop·y·left (k?p’?-l?ft’)
n. A form of licensing that encourages the distribution of software at no charge for noncommercial uses.
So basically, copyright protects your creation whether it be art, photography, writing, or anything else that is created… from being used by any other person. Whereas copyleft is when a person creates an entity that he or she allows can be used by anyone else, for anything else, as long as the original creator is attributed. This all falls under creative commons licensing.
Of course it’s a little bit more difficult then just allowing someone to use your work…you have to decide how you want them to use it. Do you want them to use it in it’s original form, as long as they attribute you and your work? Do you want them to use it, but not make money off of it? Do you want them to be able to modify your work? Do you want them…… The list goes on.
I discovered a website, that deals only with this issue, it is the Creative Commons Website… www.CreativeCommons.org
This site helps you determine the proper use of your item, and explains in further detail what Copyleft is, and how it can be used. And it even talks about creative commons laws in other countries.
It’s really interesting stuff and it’s worth looking into…
The best part of the site is their videos, they got a lot of really neat and informative videos to watch that help explain the idea of Creative Commons and Copyleft. Below is one by Justin Cone, called Building on the Past…and of course this and other videos along the same lines can be found at support.creativecommons.org/videos#past
I think from now on I’m going to think harder on how I want my work to be shared…I mean some work yes, I want to obtain the rights to it, but at the same time, there might be work that I’d like to see get used by other people in say a news article…It’s a great way to get your work out there to as many people as possible.
I encourage everyone to check out more on this topic, cause it’s an interesting one…
