Copyright is a type of intellectual property for the exclusive and assignable legal right (given to the originator/creator for a fixed number of years) to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material. Copyright is necessary mainly for the protection of a creator's moral and economic rights. Moral rights refer to the protection of the integrity of the creator/owner's work. This means consumers of the work may not change it and compromise the structural integrity of the work. Economic rights refers to the protection of the creator's ability to benefit financially from their work.
Apart from the variances in copyright in different countries, there re some fundamentals about copyright that will help you understand its purpose:
Copyright protects a long list of works, e.g.:
In most countries copyright is valid for 50 years after the creator/owner's death. Once it expires, the work goes into the Public Domain.
Copyright laws tend to be restrictive and make it difficult for content users to use the content. Having to ask permission to use a work can bring frustrations. That is why policies such as fair use and fair dealing exist. Fair use means that no permission is needed to use a work, on the condition that it will be used for criticism, teaching, news reporting scholarship and research purposes
For more information on fair use of copyrighted material, and DALRO clearances, contact Xolelwa Xorile