Copyright is a law that protects a creator's ownership of and control over the works he or she creates.
(definition retrieved from commonsense.org)
Many people think that they must go out and "get" copyright for something they have created. However, this is not true! While it is true that a trademark or a patent involves paperwork, copyright law automatically applies to anything you create, whether that is video, music, photographs, art, writing, etc. This means that your creations are legally protected by copyright law--no one can use your work without asking you for permission or, in some cases, buying the rights to that work.
This also means that most materials you find online or in print will also be protected by copyright law. In order to use them legally, you must ask the creator for permission to use it. In some cases, the creator will be ok with you using the material for free as long as you give proper credit. In others, they may want you to buy their art before using it.
This applies to social media as well! Many artists get very frustrated when using social media because other users will repost their copyrighted content with attribution in order to make it seem like they had created the content .
While it may initially seem as though you are unable to use any content you find without asking for permission or buying the content, there are a few exceptions. The fair use policy allows use of copyrighted material without asking for permission in 4 different instances.
These are:
Watch the video in the box to the right for further explanation of this.