Copyright law is a branch of law which deals with the rights of intellectual creators. This law deals with specific forms of creativity concerned mainly with mass communication. It is also concerned with all forms and methods of public communication. They are not only printed publications but also such matters as sound and television broadcasting, films and cinemas for public exhibition in and even computerized systems for the storage. Copyright deals with the rights of intellectual creators in their creation. Most works, for instance books, paintings or drawings, exist only once they are embodied in a physical object. But some of them exist without embodiment in a physical object. For instance music or poems are works even if they are not or even before they are written down by a musical notation or words.
The owner of copyright in a work is usually the person who created the work. The author of the work is the owner of that copyright. Author will hold all the rights related copyrights on his creations. There can be exceptions to this universal principle. Such exceptions are regulated by the national law. For instance the national law may provide that when a work is created by an author who is employed for the purpose of creating that work. Then the employer is the owner of copyright. It is to be noted that the moral rights always belong to the author of the work whoever may be the owner of the copyright.
In several countries copyright may be assigned. This means that the owner of the copyright transfers it to another person or entity who becomes the owner of the copyright. In some other countries an assignment of copyright is not legally possible. The same practical effect as the effect of assignment can be achieved by licensing. By licensing the owner of the copyright remains the owner but authorizes someone else to exercise all or some of his rights. There are various form of licensing.
Copyright law protects only the form of expression of ideas not the ideas themselves. The creativity protected by copyright law is creativity in the choice as well as understanding of words, colors and musical notes. Copyright law protects the owner of rights in artistic works against those who copy that is to say those who take in addition to use the form in which the unique work was spoken by the author.
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