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So what is copyright anyway?

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Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States

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(title 17, US Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship."

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Copyright allows you or anyone else

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to create a creative work and call it yours.

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You decide what you do with it, if you share it, if you sell it,

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if you never let anyone see it ever.

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It's totally up to you.

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Now I mention the United States,

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and the stuff we're going to talk about is very much US based.

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But thanks to a pair of treaties signed by over 160 countries,

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much of the matieral we're going to cover is going to apply where you live.

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So how long does copyright actually last?

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In the United States currently, a copyright lasts for the entire life of the author plus 70 years.

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So 70 years after I die, stuff I make will fall into the public domain.

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That means anybody can take it, publish it, add to it, sell it, whatever.

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As long as I'm alive, and even for 70 years after that,

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it still belongs to me.

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Now that's for stuff that you create for yourself.

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If a company hires you to make a website, for example,

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the company is going to be the one who owns the copyright to that site.

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And that's pretty normal.

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Now the copyright length on that website,

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because it was a work for hire,

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is actually going to be 95 years after it's released,

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or 120 years after it was originally created, whichever of those comes first.

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Though I don't know if you can imagine creating a website and then waiting 25 years to actually make it public.

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The point is if you're creating a work for hire,

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if someon's paying you to create something they will control the copyright for,

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that copyright's valid for a straight 95 years

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or 120 years depending on when it's first released.

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The life plus 70 copyright term is widely used around the world,

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although life plus 50 is also pretty common as well.

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If you're wondering about your specific country,

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check the teacher notes below, but ultimately,

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as long as you're alive, what else matters? Your work is copyrighted.