What is copyright?

"Basically, copyright means that the author of a work is the only person who is permitted to do certain things with it."

                                                       _{Professor in copyrights Morten Rosenmeier, University of Copenhagen*}
 

You automatically become copyright holder to your own work

Copyright law automatically protects the individual’s copyright, whenever you create an original, literary, or artistic work. Thus, you do not need to claim your copyright. It is not until someone violates your copyright - i.e. uses your work for purposes to which you cannot give your consent - that you must claim your right to determine what happens with your work.

You do not always need to ask for permission before using a work

There are a number of situations where it is permitted to use and share copyrighted material without asking first. For instance, you are permitted to quote books etc., as Aalborg University has signed an agreement with Copydan, who manages the rights of artists and writers, as well as film-, television- and music producers, publishers and newspapers.

Electronic materials, such as e.g. e-books, electronic articles, databases etc., which are made available by the university library, are governed by license agreements with publishers and suppliers, and thereby subject to special rules regarding use and distribution. You can read more about this under the heading “What am I permitted to do with electronic texts?”
 

copyright and creativity

Copyright law has influence on your use of the material of others. Sometimes these laws may seem counter-productive considering the daily conduct and possibilities on the Internet, social media etc, because they enable us to share all sorts of things without permission.

This video explains about copyright and how it may affect your creativity.

_{"Bagni, Marco and Meletti, Bartolomeo (2013) Copyright & Creativity. Source: CopyrightUser.org"}
 

Copyright and plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else's text, idea, setup or similar, as if it was your own. Therefore, it is of great importance to quote properly and correctly, and to make the origins of the content clear to the reader. On the university’s "Plagiarism" webpage, you can read more about the topic, and see whom you should contact for further questions.

^{* Rosenmeier, Morten (2014) Ophavsret for begyndere. En bog til ikke-jurister. DJØF's Forlag}