Jump To:

• copyright
  copyright

  noun

  the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of an author or creator and for a period of 70 years after their death.
• ©
  ©

  symbol

  copyright

copyright

American  

[kop-ee-rahyt] / ˈkɒp iˌraɪt /

noun

copyrights plural

1. the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of an author or creator and for a period of 70 years after their death.

---

adjective

1. of or relating to copyrights.

2. Also copyrighted. protected by copyright.

verb (used with object)

copyrights, present (3rd person singular) copyrighted, past participle, past copyrighting present participle

1. to secure a copyright on.

copyright ¹ British  

/ ˈkɒpɪˌraɪt /

noun

1.  (c).  the exclusive right to produce copies and to control an original literary, musical, or artistic work, granted by law for a specified number of years (in Britain, usually 70 years from the death of the author, composer, etc, or from the date of publication if later)

---

adjective

1. (of a work, etc) subject to or controlled by copyright

verb

1. (tr) to take out a copyright on

© ² British  

symbol

1. copyright

---

copyright ¹ Cultural  

1. The legal protection given to published works, forbidding anyone but the author from publishing or selling them. An author can transfer the copyright to another person or corporation, such as a publishing company.

---

copyright ² Cultural  

1. A grant of an exclusive right to produce or sell a book, motion picture, work of art, musical composition, software, or similar product during a specified period of time.

---

Discover More

The symbol (see also symbol) for copyright is ©.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• copyrighter
  noun
• copyrightable
  adjective
• uncopyrighted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• copyrights
  plural

Participles

• copyrighting
  present
• copyrighted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• copyright
  simple
• copyrights
  simple
• have copyrighted
  perfect
• has copyrighted
  perfect
• am copyrighting
  progressive
• are copyrighting
  progressive
• is copyrighting
  progressive
• have been copyrighting
  perfect progressive
• has been copyrighting
  perfect progressive

Past

• copyrighted
  simple
• had copyrighted
  perfect
• was copyrighting
  progressive
• were copyrighting
  progressive
• had been copyrighting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will copyright
  simple
• will have copyrighted
  perfect
• will be copyrighting
  progressive
• will have been copyrighting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of copyright

First recorded in 1725–35; copy + right

Explanation

A copyright is a document that gives the ownership rights over artistic work, like songs or stories. If you don't get a copyright for your brilliant new novel, someone could adapt it into a movie without paying you a dime. Copyright means exactly what it sounds like: the right to make copies of something. If you copyright a song, a singer will to have to pay you to record it. Usually, copyright only lasts for a certain number of years. In the U.S. when a book or song has had a copyright for more than 75 years, that expires and it becomes "public domain," which means nobody owns the rights to it anymore.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

copyright copyrights copyrighted copyrighting

The AMA holds the copyright, so it earns licensing royalties when the codes are used.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

In U.S. copyright law, the benchmark for using a copyrighted work without permission is to examine whether it is transformative, adding significant extra value to the output, rather than merely copying the work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Some entertainment companies including Disney and Universal have sued AI companies alleging copyright infringement, whereas other companies such as “Hunger Games” studio Lionsgate have partnered with AI startup Runway.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

Australia will enact laws to regulate how artificial intelligence data centres use power and water, and to protect creative copyright, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday.

From Barron's ● Jul. 15, 2026

The two hit it off, and James granted Tycho a thirty-year copyright for all his writings published in Scotland.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

And celebrities with valuable intellectual property rights, such as copyrights from the Reiners’ many film and television properties, tend to establish trusts.

From Salon ● Dec. 25, 2025

Now they sell AI-created images with the guarantee that these don’t infringe copyrights.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025

The deal comes amid reports Disney lawyers sent Google a cease-and-desist letter on Wednesday accusing the tech firm of infringing its copyrights "on a massive scale".

From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2025

They alleged that Cox’s subscribers infringed their copyrights in sound recordings and musical compositions by copying and distributing them via BitTorrent and other networks.

From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2025

But when Fabyan printed the pamphlets, he claimed the copyrights for himself.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

What constitutes “fair use” of copyrighted works for training an AI model remains contentious.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Keep in mind that sharing copyrighted material violates U.S. law.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

A flurry of new legislative proposals include requiring human input on the use of AI on weapons, forcing the disclosure of copyrighted data used in training AI models and new taxes on AI companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026

But critics have raised concerns about whether AI systems are trained on copyrighted works without permission or payment to artists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026

It was copyrighted 1972 by the Esso company.

From "Paper Towns" by John Green

The nonprofit recently trademarked its name and is in the process of copyrighting its livestream.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2026

Its widespread use has been facilitated by Kruger’s disinterest in copyrighting her work.

From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2022

“If we start copyrighting the building blocks, can we keep developing new material?”

From The Verge ● Sep. 15, 2021

Senior manager of LHI Sonia Mora said the county is in the process of copyrighting Abuelina and her family members to ensure they are not used for commercial purposes.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 8, 2021

This I prevented by copyrighting the two remaining thirds in England! 

From Memoirs by Leland, Charles Godfrey

Related Words

• cartel
• holding
• ownership
• patent
• trust