International copyright

An exclusive right granted to the creator of an original work, usually for a limited time. Copyright may apply to a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms, or works. Copyrights are obtained through a national copyright process. While no creative work is automatically protected worldwide, there are international treaties which provide protection automatically for all creative works as soon as they are fixed in a medium. There are two primary international copyright agreements, the Buenos Aires Convention and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.