Copyright

According to the Oxford English Dictionary “copyright” is “the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material”, meaning that only the owner/creator of the product (music, pictures, video etc.) has the right to share, copy and reproduce their art.

As it is highlighted in the quote, the owner has this right for only a set number of years after that – if the time is not prolonged – anyone and everyone can use the product. The duration of this protective law is different in any country (most of the time 50 years after the author’s death).

In addition, the laws concerning copyright are different in every country! This means: you can’t simply download any picture/video etc. and post it on your website! If you ignore this law, this “copyright infringement” can result in fines and even imprisonment.

But copyright is not as easy as it sounds. Therefore, you need to inform yourself about what you are allowed to do and what not. We’d like to help you with that, so please have a look at the following pages but also at your country’s legislation.