Right Issues Reserved to Copyright Holder

In the last post, the exclusive rights of a copyright owner were mentioned. Today’s post will briefly describe each of the exclusive rights.

Reproduction

• Making an identical copy of the original
  

Adaptation

• Making a change to the core code by a competitor or user
  
• Easy to do, may be undetectable

Distribution

• Issuing unlawful copies to other users

Public Performance

• Ability to play or use software in public
• Reduces consumer demand for legitimate copies of the work

Public Display

• Less common for computer software, but always a possibility
• More common in digital images, web pages and video games

According to Simpson (2005), there are two forms of software that may be legally copied for FREE! Stay tuned for the next posting for more information.

References

Simpson, C. (2005). Computer software in schools. In Copyright for schools (pp. 131-141). Worthington, OH: Linworth.