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Copyright and Licensing Your Work

Christine Rickabaugh

This section covers the basics of copyright. By the end of this section, you should be able to explain the basics of copyright, why it exists, why there are limits, key exceptions and limitations to copyright, and how to license your work openly.

Introduction

Copyright is a fundamental aspect of intellectual property law that shapes how creative works are used, shared, and protected in society. As an artist, writer, musician, researcher, or consumer, understanding copyright is essential for navigating the landscape of information and creativity. This chapter introduces the basics of copyright law, focusing on its purpose, what it protects, how it differs from other types of intellectual property, how protection is obtained, the concept of public domain, key exceptions and limitations to copyright, and how to openly license your work to maintain your copyright while allowing others to share and reference your work.

The Purpose of Copyright

Copyright law is enshrined in the US Constitution, which says, “Congress shall have the Power… To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”[1] Or, more simply put: Congress should create laws that encourage creativity and innovation by granting creators exclusive rights to their original works for a limited time. These rights allow creators to control how their works are used and to benefit economically and morally from their creations. The ultimate goal is to strike a balance between rewarding creators for their efforts and ensuring that society benefits from the free flow and development of knowledge and culture.

What Copyrights Protect

The goal of copyright is to protect the author’s or creator’s rights for a specified period. This incentivizes creators and authors, as they can benefit from their work (for example, by receiving royalties from selling books or licensing their photographs for commercial use). Then, after the copyright term ends, society at large benefits from this content being available for everyone to use, reuse, remix, or perform.

U.S. copyright law provides copyright owners with the following exclusive rights:[2]

  • Reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords.
  • Prepare derivative works based on the work.
  • Distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending.
  • Perform the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a motion picture or other audiovisual work.
  • Display the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work. This right also applies to the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work.
  • Perform the work publicly through a digital audio transmission if the work is a sound recording.

Copyright also provides the owner of copyright the right to authorize others to exercise these exclusive rights, subject to certain statutory limitations.

What Is Copyrightable and What Is Not

Copyright protects original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression. This means the work must be both original (the result of the creator’s skill and judgement) and recorded in some form (written, recorded, saved digitally, etc.).

 

Examples of copyrightable works:[3]

  • Literary works (books, articles, poems)
  • Musical works (songs, compositions, lyrics)
  • Dramatic works (plays, scripts)
  • Artistic works (paintings, drawings, fashion designs, photographs)
  • Films and audiovisual works
  • Computer software
  • Architectural designs

What is not protected by copyright:[4]

  • Ideas, concepts, principles, or discoveries
  • Facts and data
  • Procedures, methods, systems, or processes
  • Titles, names, short phrases, or slogans
  • Familiar symbols or designs

The critical thing to know is that copyright protects the specific expression of the idea, not the idea itself. For example, you can copyright an infographic that describes the stages of human development, but not the actual stages themselves. Or, you can copyright the drawing of an animal, but not the animal itself.

Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Protections

Copyright is just one of several types of intellectual property (IP) protections. Each serves a different purpose and protects a distinct subject matter.[5]

Type of Intellectual Property What It Protects Requirements Duration
Copyright Original works of authorship Originality, fixation Author’s life + 70 years
Patent Inventions and processes Novelty, utility, non-obvious 20 years
Trademark Distinctive words, symbols, or designs Distinctiveness Indefinite (with use)
Trade Secret Confidential business information Secrecy, economic value As long as it’s a secret

Key differences: 

  • Patents protect inventions and grant exclusive rights to make, use, or sell the invention for a limited time.
  • Trademarks protect brands, names, and logos that distinguish goods or services.
  • Trade secrets protect confidential business information that gives a competitive advantage.

Obtaining Copyright Protection

Copyright protection is automatic. As soon as the original work is in a fixed, tangible medium, it is protected by copyright. There is no requirement to register the work or use a copyright notice (©), though they can provide legal advantages. This means that even if an article or presentation online doesn’t have a copyright notice, you must assume that it’s under copyright unless it’s otherwise stated. However, it also means your work is copyrighted, even if it doesn’t have a notice.

The Public Domain

Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and can be freely used by anyone for any purpose. There are several ways works enter the public domain:

  • Copyright has expired
  • The creator has waived copyright protection (sometimes this is referred to as “dedicated to the public domain” or can be noted as a CC0 CC0)[6]
  • The work was never eligible for copyright (e.g., US federal government publications, facts, data, or ideas).

Examples of public domain works:

  • Classic literature whose copyright has expired (Shakespeare, old fairy tales)
  • The creator has waived copyright protection (see above about dedicating a work to the public domain)
  • The work was never eligible for copyright (facts, mathematical equations, recipes)

While individual public domain works are free to use, creative compilations or arrangements of public domain materials may be protected if they involve original selection or organization. For example, numerous films have been adapted from the writings of Charles Dickens or Jane Austen. These new movies are eligible for copyright because they are original interpretations of a book or story that is now in the public domain.

Exceptions and Limitations to Copyright

  • Fair use: Allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. Four factors are considered in determining fair use: the purpose of the use, the nature of the creation, the amount of the creation used, and the effect on the market.
  • Library and archive exceptions: permit specific uses by libraries and archives for preservation and research.
  • Educational and performance exceptions:  Allows for specific uses in classroom settings or for non-profit performances[7].
  • First sale doctrine: Allows the resale or lending of lawfully acquired copies of a work (for example, libraries lending books, or selling an old video game at a garage sale).

Open Access and Creative Commons Licenses

Open access (OA) refers to a set of principles and practices that enable research outputs—such as journal articles, datasets, and educational resources—to be distributed online, free of charge and most legal restrictions. To facilitate open access, many creators and publishers use Creative Commons (CC) licenses.

CC licenses allow authors and creators to specify in advance how others may use their work, without requiring users to contact the creator individually. By default, copyright law reserves all rights to the creator, meaning others must seek permission for any use. CC licenses shift this paradigm by granting permissions up front, ranging from the most open (CC BY, which requires only attribution) to more restrictive options that limit commercial use or the creation of derivative works. One way to think of these licenses is similar to a movie studio and distributor. A major studio doesn’t give your local movie theater the copyright to a movie. Still, it grants the local theater a license to show the film under specific circumstances (such as the number of times it can be shown each day and the percentage of ticket prices the studio receives).

The CC License Options

There are six different license types, listed from most to least permissive here:[8]

CC BY

imageThis license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC BY includes the following elements:

image BY: credit must be given to the creator.

CC BY-SA

imageThis license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-SA includes the following elements:

image BY: credit must be given to the creator.
image SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

CC BY-NC

imageThis license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC includes the following elements:

image BY: credit must be given to the creator.
image NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.

CC BY-NC-SA

imageThis license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements:

image BY: credit must be given to the creator.
image NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
image SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

CC BY-ND

imageThis license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC BY-ND includes the following elements:

image BY: credit must be given to the creator.
image ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.

CC BY-NC-ND

imageThis license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC-ND includes the following elements:

image BY: credit must be given to the creator.
image NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted.
image ND: No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted.

The CC0 Public Domain Dedication

imageCC0 (aka CC Zero) is a public dedication tool, which enables creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public domain. CC0 enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions.

Choosing a license

The six licenses and the public domain dedication tool give creators a range of options. The best way to decide which is appropriate for you is to think about why you want to share your work and how you hope others will use that work.

These licenses are widely used in open-access publishing and for open educational resources (OERs), making it easier for educators, students, and the public to share, adapt, and reuse content legally. Importantly, when using material under a Creative Commons license, users must comply with the specific terms of the license and provide proper attribution to the creator. This flexible licensing system supports the goals of open access by removing unnecessary barriers to the sharing and development of knowledge.

Circumstances to Consider

Oral Histories:

Oral history interviews are collaborative works owned by their creators[9]. This means the interviewer owns the questions, and the narrator owns the answers. It’s a work of joint authorship protected under U.S. copyright for 70 years after the last author’s death, unless another agreement has been made, such as a time seal, limits on who can access the interview, or an agreement that releases the rights to an outside organization or entity. For example, a historian and a community member might record an oral history but agree (in writing) to grant the rights to a local university or historical society. See the University of Pittsburgh Library System Oral History Toolkit and the Boston Public Library’s Getting Started with Oral History for sample consent or release templates, tips, and other considerations when conducting an oral history.

Fashion Designs:

Fashion designs are composed of various elements, some of which are eligible for copyright protection, while others are not.

  • Color: Copyright protection does not include color, but in some circumstances, a trademark could be used. (Think of Louboutin’s red bottoms: that concept is trademarked[10].)
  • Sketches and graphic designs: In both physical and digital form, original sketches are protected by copyright law. However, the copyright applies to the sketch, not the idea, so others could create their own version of a similar concept.
  • Cut: the way elements are cut and pieced together is not covered by copyright. A patent would be the best route to protect your creation[11].
  • Textile design: copyright applies if the design contains a sufficient amount of creative expression[12].

 

 

  1. U.S. Constitution. art. 1, § 8. ↵
  2. What is Copyright? (n.d.). U.S. Copyright Office. Retrieved June 9, 2025, from https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/ ↵
  3. Copyright Basics Circular 1 (n.d.). U.S. Copyright Office. Retrieved June 20, 2025, from https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf ↵
  4. Ibid ↵
  5. Lesson 2: Legally Recognized Types of Intellectual Property (n.d.) UW-Madison Libraries. Retrieved June 21, 2025, from https://learn.library.wisc.edu/intellectual-property/lesson-2/ ↵
  6. CC0. (n.d.) Creative Commons. Retrieved on June 20, 2025, from https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/cc0/ licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license ↵
  7. Copyright and Fair Use. (n.d.). Harvard University Office of the General Counsel. Retrieved June 10, 2025, from https://ogc.harvard.edu/pages/copyright-and-fair-use ↵
  8. This section is reused from About CC Licenses. (n.d.). Creative Commons. Retrieved June 7, 2025, from https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/ under a  CC BY 4.0 ↵
  9. Oral History- Methodologies and Sources. (n.d.) Duke University Libraries. Retrieved on June 30, 2025 from https://guides.library.duke.edu/c.php?g=733290&p=5238733 ↵
  10. The birth of an iconic signature. (n.d.) Christian Louboutin. Retrieved June 30, 2025 from https://us.christianlouboutin.com/us_en/red-sole ↵
  11. Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., Et al. 580 U.S. 1-4 (2017) 1-4 ↵
  12. Can You Copyright Fashion Designs? (n.d.) Copyright Alliance. Retrieved on June 30, 2025 from https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/copyright-fashion-designs/ ↵

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Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Copyright and Licensing Your Work Copyright © 2024 by Christine Rickabaugh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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