Alternatives to Copyright
Protecting intellectual property in the age of digital evolution is a real and constant endeavor. With the advent of music sampling and the categorization of cultural works as public domain, without consent from performers, copyright laws offer distinct protections. However, new models have expanded the limits on what it means to have a protected work. Alternative concepts provide options for the creators of intellectual properties to open their work for public use.
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Copyleft
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Copyleft is a term generally attributed to software, but has been expanded to encompass various works that would normally fall under copyright laws. Copyleft entails the distribution of a work that is a modified version of another work. A copyleft license affords a person the right to freely use, distribute and modify a work with permission from the original creator. This is provided that the modified work, and all works created from it, fall under the same copyleft license and shall be free to use, distribute and modify. Copyleft ensures that a work is freely distributed.
Public Domain
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Public domain works are works that are free for the public to use. These works are not protected by copyright or other intellectual property laws. Either the copyright has expired, the owner failed to renew the copyright, or the work was produced by the U.S. Government. Copyrights are in effect for the lifetime of the creator, plus 70 years. A copyright owner may choose to place his work in the public domain.
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Creative Commons
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A Creative Commons license gives one the ability to copy and distribute a copyrighted work, so long as the original creator is given credit. The original creator can choose to allow her original work to be available for commercial use, or not. They can choose to allow modifications to the original work, or not. The copyright owner maintains ownership of the copyright.
Patents
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Patents and design patents offer an alternative to copyrighting. Copyrights generally protect creative works like novels, photography, video, graphic arts and music videos. Some original works that may be characterized as a creative design may not have copyright protection, like jewelry. In such cases, a design patent may offer protection similar to the rights of copyright holders. Alternatively, the owner of the original work always has the option of placing a design in the public domain.
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References
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