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Fundamentals of Copyright

What is copyright?

Copyright is a branch of intellectual property law governing legal relations arising from the creation and use of works of science, literature, and art. It grants authors and other rights holders the exclusive right to use the results of their intellectual activity, as well as personal non-economic (moral) rights — including the right of authorship, the right to the author’s name, and the right to the integrity of the work.

The primary objectives of copyright are to stimulate the development of culture, science, and innovation by providing financial incentives to rights holders for their creative output, while at the same time facilitating public access to knowledge and entertainment. Copyright establishes the foundational framework for relationships between participants in the content industry, as well as between rights holders and consumers.

In legal systems that follow the civil law tradition (such as those of continental Europe and Russia), copyright operates as part of a unified system of intellectual property protection alongside other institutions, including:

  • Trade mark law — protecting signs, logos, and brand identifiers used in commerce;
  • Patent law — covering inventions, utility models, and industrial designs;
  • Protection of means of individualisation — including trade names, geographical indications, and appellations of origin;
  • Trade secret / know-how protection — covering confidential business information of commercial value.

The legal regime governing the protection and use of copyrighted works is determined by national legislation and by international treaties to which a given state is a party — most notably the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Copyright in a Global Context

There is no single international copyright law. Each country enacts and enforces its own national copyright legislation. However, more than 181 countries have ratified the Berne Convention, which establishes a minimum set of standards for the protection of authors’ rights worldwide and is administered by WIPO.

Despite this international framework, organisations operating across borders — with staff working in multiple jurisdictions and sharing content internationally — must remain attentive to the differences between national copyright laws. Failure to do so can expose organisations to significant legal risk.

When Does Copyright Protection Begin?

One of the foundational principles of the Berne Convention is automatic protection: copyright subsists automatically from the moment a qualifying work is fixed in a tangible medium of expression — such as paper, film, or a digital storage device.

A qualifying work includes literary works, musical compositions, films, software, paintings, and any other expression of creative ideas. It is important to note that copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself, nor facts or laws as such.

No publication, registration, or other formality is required for copyright to arise. That said, some jurisdictions recommend the use of a copyright notice (©), and in certain countries — including the United States — registration of domestic works is a prerequisite for bringing an infringement claim before the courts.

Why Formal Copyright Protection Still Matters

Although copyright arises automatically upon the creation and fixation of a work, there are important practical and legal reasons to pursue formal registration or other protective measures:

  1. Establishing Authorship and Priority In the event of a dispute, proving authorship and the date of creation can be challenging. Depositing or registering a work with a recognised body — such as a copyright depository or a collective management organisation — creates a dated record that can serve as evidence in legal proceedings. This is particularly relevant where multiple parties claim rights to the same work, or where it is necessary to demonstrate that a work predates a particular event.
  2. Commercialisation and Transfer of Rights Using a work commercially — whether by licensing, selling, or otherwise transferring rights — typically requires documented proof of ownership. Registration simplifies the process of entering into agreements, as prospective licensees or acquirers will often require formal evidence of title. Intellectual property may also be recognised as an intangible asset on a company’s balance sheet, thereby increasing its assessed value.
  3. Protection of Rights That Require Registration Not all categories of intellectual property benefit from automatic protection. Inventions, utility models, industrial designs, trade marks, and geographical indications generally require mandatory state registration before any rights arise. Without registration, these rights do not exist and cannot be enforced.
  4. International Protection The automatic arising of rights in one country does not guarantee their recognition abroad. International protection of intellectual property often requires separate procedures in accordance with applicable treaties — such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or the WIPO Copyright Treaty.
  5. Portfolio Management Formal registration enables organisations to systematically catalogue their intellectual property assets, monitor expiry dates — for example, trade mark registrations typically last ten years and must be renewed — and maintain effective control over a large portfolio of rights.
  6. The Distinction Between Moral Rights and Economic Rights Copyright encompasses both moral rights (such as the right of authorship and the right to integrity of the work), which are personal to the author and generally inalienable, and economic rights (such as the rights of reproduction, distribution, and communication to the public), which can be transferred or licensed. Formal registration and related procedures primarily concern economic rights, enabling their monetisation and facilitating control over how a work is used.

In summary: while copyright arises automatically, registration and formal procedures are necessary for its effective enforcement, commercial exploitation, portfolio management, and for the protection of rights that do not arise automatically.

International Copyright Treaties

Several multilateral treaties promote consistent copyright protection across jurisdictions by establishing minimum standards that each signatory state then implements through its own national law.

The Berne Convention (first adopted in 1886, since revised multiple times, and now ratified by more than 181 countries) is the oldest and most significant of these instruments. It establishes minimum standards of protection — covering the types of works protected, the duration of protection, and the scope of permitted exceptions and limitations — as well as two key principles: the principle of national treatment (works originating in one member state receive the same protection in other member states as those states grant to their own nationals’ works) and automatic protection (copyright arises upon fixation, without any prior formality).

The WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996) clarifies that computer programs and databases are protected by copyright, confirms that the transmission of works over the internet and similar networks falls within the exclusive rights of the copyright owner, and designates as infringement both: (i) the circumvention of technological protection measures applied to works, and (ii) the removal or alteration of rights management information embedded in a work.

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which also entered into force in 1996 and is administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), contains a comprehensive set of provisions on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, including copyright.

What Does Copyright Protect?

The Berne Convention requires that, at a minimum, copyright protection in all member states extends to “literary and artistic works” — defined broadly as any production in the literary, scientific, or artistic domain, whatever the mode or form of its expression.

The specific categories and their precise definitions may vary by jurisdiction, but typically include:

  • Academic articles, essays, novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and other literary works;
  • Drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures, and other two- and three-dimensional works of art;
  • Films and other audiovisual works;
  • Musical compositions (with or without lyrics);
  • Software and databases.

Duration of copyright

The term of copyright protection varies by country and by type of work. The Berne Convention sets the minimum duration for literary works at the life of the author plus 50 years. However, in most jurisdictions today, the standard term is life of the author plus 70 years (often written as “life + 70”), running to 31 December of the 70th year following the author’s death.

Public domain

A work enters the public domain — meaning it is no longer protected by copyright and may be used freely by anyone — in two circumstances: (a) the applicable term of copyright protection has expired; or (b) the work falls within a category that copyright law does not protect (such as bare facts, ideas, or official government texts in certain jurisdictions).

Types of Rights

Most national copyright laws recognise two distinct categories of rights:

Moral Rights reflect the idea that a copyrighted work is an expression of the personality and humanity of its author. They include:

  • The right to be identified as the author of the work;
  • The right of integrity (i.e., the right to object to modification, distortion, or mutilation of the work); and
  • The right of disclosure (i.e., the right to decide when and how the work is first made public).

Moral rights cannot always be transferred by the author and, in some jurisdictions, do not expire upon the author’s death.

Economic Rights (also called exploitation rights) recognise the right holder’s entitlement to use, authorise the use of, or prohibit the use of a work, and to set the terms for such use. They typically include:

  • The right of reproduction — making copies by any means, whether digital or analogue;
  • The right of distribution — selling, renting, or otherwise making physical copies available to the public;
  • The right of communication to the public — including public performance, public display, and dissemination via digital networks such as the internet; and
  • The right of adaptation — including translation, arrangement, or other transformation of the work.

Obtaining Permission to Use a Copyrighted Work

Purchasing a copy of a work — whether a book, a journal, or a digital file — does not confer any rights to use that work in the copyright sense.

What the owner of a copy may do:

  • Use it personally (read, view, listen, etc.);
  • Resell, give away, or dispose of the physical copy as a tangible object (the so-called “first sale” or “exhaustion” doctrine).

What requires the rights holder’s authorisation:

  • Reproducing the work (e.g., copying, scanning, or digitising);
  • Publicly performing or displaying it;
  • Communicating it to the public (including making it available online);
  • Adapting it or creating derivative works;
  • Using it for commercial purposes (e.g., incorporating it into advertising or publishing extracts in other works).

How to obtain permission:

  • Approach the rights holder directly (the author, publisher, or other rights-holding entity) and enter into a licence agreement or an agreement for the assignment of rights; or
  • Obtain a licence through a collective management organisation (CMO), where that organisation has been authorised by the rights holder to grant such licences on their behalf.