Copyright refers to laws that authorize the use of the work of a creator - such as author, artist, and many more. This includes copying, distributing, altering, literary and other kind of work. Unless stated in a contract, the author or creator of any work holds the copyright. Copyright gives the author of original work, an exclusive right over the content for a certain time period relative to that work. Copyright is described under the umbrella term Intellectual Property along with rights and trade name.

• Copyright can be applied for any work that is an original idea or literature that is put to use. The idea alone cannot be protected by copyright. It is the physical use of that idea, such as a design or a written novel, which is covered under copyright law.
• Copyright also includes for wide range of creative work like intellectual, scientific, artistic form of works which includes poems, composition of songs, music, videos, dances, sculptures, software, and many more. They specifically vary by concerned authority or jurisdiction.
• Copyright is given to the author according to the law, as soon as he completes his work.
• In order to protect your own work and idea you need to register the work in the copyright office.
• Many copyright law infringing copies of entertainment files e.g. MP3 music files, VCD video files and etc. and software are often shared by P2P software.
• The act of unauthorized uploading of a copyright works for others to download may attract civil or even criminal sanctions. Unauthorized downloading of copyright works entails civil liability.

Guidelines

• Do not copy copyrighted software without author’s permission.
• Always respect copyright laws and policies.
• Computer ethics is set of moral principles that govern the usage of computers.
• The common issues of computer ethics is violation of copyright issues.
• Duplicating the copyrighted content without the authors approval accessing personal information of others are some of the examples that violate ethical principles.
• Be aware of copyright issues while using online information.