copyright
noun [ C or U ]
LAW uk/ˈkɒpiraɪt/ usthe legal right that someone has to control the production and selling of a book, play, film, photograph, piece of music, etc. for a particular period of time:
There was a need to develop copyright protection for computer programs.
Copyright law prevents freelance work from being included in electronic archives without permission.
breach/break/infringe copyright They claim the television company breached copyright when it used some of the footage on one of their DVDs.
hold/own the copyright on/to sth Recording artists continue to own the copyright to their work.
a breach/infringement of copyright
be in copyright
if a book, film, etc. is in copyright, the period of the copyright that controls its production has not yet ended:
Are there any issues with scanning books that are still in copyright?
copyright
adjective
LAW uk/ˈkɒpiraɪt/ usprotected by copyright:
The contents of this website are copyright.
The book contains a complete glossary of copyright terms.
copyright
verb [ T ]
LAW uk/ˈkɒpiraɪt/ usto get the legal right to control the production and selling of a book, film, photograph, piece of music, etc. for a particular period of time:
Because software can be copyrighted, it has legal protection for much longer than patented inventions.