From Envirowiki

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights given to an author or creator that allow the author to regulate the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally "the rights to copy" an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited duration, after which the works pass in to public domain

[edit] External link

• Copyright- Wikipedia article
• Copyright and Authors, John Ewing, on Firstmonday.org. A history and discussion of modern copyright.