Copyright, Fair Use, Public Domain basics

 What is copyright?

"Copyright is a form of protection provided by U.S. law to authors of “original works of authorship” from the time the works are created in a fixed form."

this definition is taken from the US Copyright circular. The same document says copyright law applies to:
 

"Literary works • Musical works, including any accompanying words • Dramatic works, including any accompanying music • Pantomimes and choreographic works • Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works • Motion pictures and other audiovisual works • Sound recordings, which are works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds • Architectural works"

What is fair use? 

While fair use doesn't exclusively apply to teaching, it is usually more applicable in that area.

Coyright.gov defines Fair use as:

"Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use."

What is the public domain?

"The term “public domain” refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. The public owns these works, not an individual author or artist. Anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission, but no one can ever own it."


"There are four common ways that works arrive in the public domain:

• the copyright has expired
• the copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules
• the copyright owner deliberately places it in the public domain, known as “dedication,” or
• copyright law does not protect this type of work."

both sections are from here.

More details are found here.

Infographic: here.