Why Copyright Is Wrong

Copyright is essentially a means to protect an author, artist, musician, photographer, etc. in regards to his or her work. For example, if an author owns a copyright over his or her piece of literature, then the author is given full credit over the work, and others must seek permission in order to use the work. While copyright protects much of the use of works, under the Creative Commons licenses, there is a way to easily find images, articles, etc. that can be used by any individual. Additionally, under fair use, one can use an image, article, etc. without having to obtain permission as long as the individual is not producing this work to be seen by the public or is only using less than ten percent of identical material from the original, protected work. While the purpose of copyright is straightforward, a few questions still arise. Although copyright is designed to protect the creator of the material, does copyright only protect published work, or does it also protect work that is still being developed? In
If my original idea was repeated by another individual, and I was not given credit for the idea, I would feel cheated and betrayed. Even if I had not officially documented my idea, the idea is still mine, and therefore, I possess ownership over it. Just like plagiarizing an article or essay, I would feel as though my idea has essentially been copied and stolen.
2. Kyle’s actions are unethical, because whether or not the money- and time-saving strategy has been written in words or not, according to chapter three of the Tarheel Writing Guide, misrepresentation includes “misrepresenting a source’s ideas as your own, usually by not including citations” (UNC Writing Program 37). Therefore, Kyle’s actions can be viewed as theft, since he did not give credit where credit is due. Regardless of whether Kyle intentionally did this or simply forgot or did not think to mention my name, he can still be accused of misrepresentation and theft of intellectual