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         Copyright, as portrayed by Dictionary.com, is defined as 'the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc'. Given the definition, several scenarios admitingly done by several people may be infringing copyright law, which in turn, is an illegal action. Such examples include that of downloading an artists music without charge nor consent to the creator of said music; as well as taking credit for the work of another individual(s).

         Furthermore, one may be dismissed from such illegal actions given that said individual follows the act of fair use. Fair use is when one uses a fragment of copyrighted material for the intention of 'transformation'. Simply put, it is a form of defense if one were to ever find him or herself in the middle of a copyright infringement claim. There are only a few exceptions for that of copyright, these are known as commentary, criticism, and parodies. For example, if one were to 'ridicule' the work of another for comedic purposes, then said person would be protected by copyright. Granted, the art of parodying requires fragments from the original work in which the parody is based off of, it is in this scenario in which the legal defense known as fair use comes into play in the sense of dismissing the normally illegal action as one of legal virtue. 

         There have been incidents where even those of a professional stature find themselves in violation of copyright. Take for instance, Shepard Fairey, the creator of the famous red, white, and blue portrait of President Barack Obama. Fairey was order to pay a fine of $25,000 in fines for a dispute that can be traced back to they year of 2009. He claimed that his use of the photo was protected under the fair use doctrine, unfortunately, a wrong move was made in which he tampered with evidence to better favor his story. Due to this, he has recently been sentenced to two years in probation. On a positive note he states that he accepts, "full responsibility for violating the court's trust." Nonetheless, this goes to show how even the creator of such a famous photo can wind up having to battle copyright.

         There are however, ways in which copyright may be completely avoided altogether without one having to interpret the fair use doctrine, and that is through what is known as public domain and Creative Comments. 'Public Domain' is, according to UCC, is defined as 'consisting of works that are either ineligible for copyright protection or with expired copyrights'; while Creative Comments is defined as, 'the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.' (According to the official website)

Examples of websites/links that grants one access may be found here for Public Domain and here for Creative Comments. 

  
Halloween before image used with permission, Creative Comments.

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