A copyright is a type of intellectual property (IP) that protects original works of authorship.
A copyright protects original works of authorship, such as videos, movies, songs, books, musicals, video games, paintings, etc. Generally, copyright law is meant to incentivize the creation of original works of authorship for the benefit of the public. To receive copyright protection, a work of authorship must be created by an author, and must have some amount of creativity. If you are the author of an original work, then you typically own the copyright in that work.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States law that governs online copyrighted materials. The DMCA applies to copyrights only and not to trademarks or patents.
Example: The owner of the Pinzon brand took the photos of the sheets shown below and owns the copyright in the images of the sheets. If a seller were to copy these images to sell their product on another product detail page, that seller could be violating the rights owner’s copyright in the images of the sheets.
Refer to the United States Copyright Office’s website for more information about copyright basics and FAQ.
You may be able to upload or sell someone else’s copyrighted work on Amazon if you have received permission from the copyright owner or if your use is protected by the “first sale” doctrine. The first sale doctrine generally permits the resale of a genuine, lawfully purchased physical item (such as a book or CD) without permission from the copyright owner.
Example: If you decide to sell a used copy of someone else’s book on Amazon, you are selling someone else’s copyrighted work. You are usually allowed to sell your particular copy of the book without further permission from the copyright owner because the first sale doctrine protects the resale of genuine, lawfully purchased items.