Copyright or Copyleft?
You most likely know what a copyright is, but if you don’t, according to the United States Copyright Office, a copyright is a set of rights granted by the Government for a limited time to protect creative or artistic forms or works including literary works, movies, musical works, sound recordings, paintings, photographs, software, and industrial designs.
But what is Copyleft?
While Copyleft is NOT an actual legal term, such as copyright, it is often referred to as a reciprocal license. With a Copyleft, instead of a copyright, restrictions are usually imposed on a work stating that when the work is copied, modified, or used in any subsequent work, the author of that subsequent work must grant the same Copyleft rights to the public for the subsequent work. It’s kind of like passing the rights forward.
Copyleft is usually symbolized with a backward C in the copyright symbol. Copyleft is often used for open source computer software, documents, music, and art. Copyleft is essentially the opposite of a copyright.
Where a copyright basically says ‘no, you may not use my work,’ a Copyleft says ‘yes, please use my work, but you must allow others to use the work that you create from my work as well.’
Just as there are copyright licenses on copyrighted work, there must be Copyleft licenses for Copyleft work as well. The most commonly accepted Copyleft license is the GNU General Public License, or as it is commonly known, the GPL which can be seen at:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
So, if you find and wish to use work that is Copyleft, make sure that you understand that you must grant that same Copyleft privilege to the public as well. This is something that you must consider strongly before you create a product using Copyleft materials.
Be aware that you are not just giving others the right to sell your work that was derived from Copyleft material – you are granting them the right to alter the work as well!