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copyright
copyrightnounthe 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.
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©
©symbolcopyright
copyright
Americannoun
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copyrights
plural
adjective
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of or relating to copyrights.
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Also copyrighted. protected by copyright.
verb (used with object)
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copyrights,
present (3rd person singular)
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copyrighted,
past participle, past
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copyrighting
present participle
noun
adjective
verb
symbol
Discover More
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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copyrightsimple
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copyrightssimple
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have copyrightedperfect
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has copyrightedperfect
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am copyrightingprogressive
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are copyrightingprogressive
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is copyrightingprogressive
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have been copyrightingperfect progressive
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has been copyrightingperfect progressive
Past
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copyrightedsimple
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had copyrightedperfect
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was copyrightingprogressive
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were copyrightingprogressive
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had been copyrightingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of copyright
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.
Vocabulary lists containing copyright
Computer Science and Technology - Middle School
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Computer Science and Technology - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And in December 2025, Europe's highest court ruled everyday commercial products can hold copyright if they represent creative design choices, a decision which Birkenstock said was relevant to its "iconic" sandals.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Last year, Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Character.AI, alleging copyright infringement of its well-known characters, including Elsa, Moana, Peter Parker and Darth Vader.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
The filing—from publishers suing Microsoft and OpenAI for alleged copyright infringement—suggests top staff at the companies thought that scraping news sites to train AI models could ultimately damage or destroy those publications.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The tech companies have argued that their actions constituted “fair use,” which allows for some copyright material to be used without explicit permission, and that their use of the material was ultimately transformative.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 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
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Songs typically carry two copyrights — one for the composition, usually held by songwriters and their publishers, and one for the sound recording, usually owned by the label.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Chinese corporate registry data shows the company owns copyrights to software that cybersecurity experts say could enable the company to do what it promises.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
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
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
But when Fabyan printed the pamphlets, he claimed the copyrights for himself.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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In May, multiple publishers, including Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier and Turow, sued Meta in a New York court for allegedly stealing copyrighted content.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
BBC Newsbeat has obtained the filings, first reported by video game website Kotaku, external, demanding Microsoft-owned site GitHub and chat app Discord turn over the user details of accounts thought to be sharing "copyrighted material".
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
The fact that AI-generated text can’t be copyrighted has made it one of the hard lines the industry has been able to enforce.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
In 2024, a group of authors sued Anthropic, arguing that the company pirated hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books and used them without permission.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
It was copyrighted 1972 by the Esso company.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
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On the other hand, that can also be an advantage, said a 30-year-old pilot who goes by the name Makarena and worked in copyrighting before the war.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2023
Its widespread use has been facilitated by Kruger’s disinterest in copyrighting her work.
From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2022
This idea of thin copyright, and the idea that you might be copyrighting the curation of all of these different elements together.
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
The process of copyrighting a photograph is not an involved one.
From Making Your Camera Pay by Frederick C. Davis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.