Creating Copyright

What you, or anyone else, can do with a copyrighted work depends on who controls the rights in a work.

Many creative efforts cannot be published or distributed because the copyrights are entangled and the owner or owners of the work can't be determined or can't be located.

In the following sections, you will learn how copyright occurs, what it means to own a copyright and how to control the results so you can use the work as you intend. If you are new to the topic, you may find it useful to read through the sections in order.

Required Information
Understand the importance of copyright and how it is established.

Ownership Factors
Determining ownership can be complicated. Find out why.

Managing Rights
Learn about the types of agreements used to grant and transfer rights to others.

Creating New Works
Here you will find some tools to help you manage your project.