Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use copyright in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Copyright means the right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship. Example: “Copyright is a separate legal area from trademarks.”

Examples of copyright by meaning

nounThe right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music...

  • Copyright is a separate legal area from trademarks.
  • One of the important points that would have to be examined in such a discussion would be how far the growth of this class has been artificially stimulated by the law of copyright.¹1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of...

nounSuch an exclusive right as it pertains to one or more specific works.

  • The artist lost the copyrights to her songs when she signed the contract.
  • The images are still copyright of the original artist.
  • For me personally, the copyrights and "copywrongs," as I have called them, simply boil down to either one or two things, and that is it's either an act of distribution or it is an act of consumption.2005, Gerard M Stegmaier, The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: 2005 supplement

nounA violation of copyright law; copyright infringement.

  • no copyright intended
  • Anyone accused of copyright would have sixty days to opt-out of the Copyright Claims Board process, in which case the plaintiff would have to seek legal action in court.2019 October 23, Christine Fisher, “House passes controversial copyright bill that could be abused by trolls”, in Engadget, archived from...

verbTo obtain or secure a copyright for some literary or other artistic work.

  • Every book will be copyrighted that the publisher believes will have such a market as will justify him in going to the expense of copyrighting to prevent competition from other publishers.1907, United States Congress House. Committee on Appropriations, District of Columbia Appropriations, page 253
  • Mullins writes FOR YOU-THE-PEOPLE, copyrighting to protect listings and to make a statement—but willingly shares his work for, after all, if it is not read then of what worth is a book?1993, Gyeorgos Ceres Hatonn, The Beast at Work, →ISBN, page 161
  • The disadvantage to this form of copyrighting is that your work is not traceable for anyone who is interested in acquiring information regarding copyright ownership.1997, Marc Davison, All Area Access: Personal Management for Unsigned Musicians, →ISBN, page 171

verbTo flag for copyright violation, to copystrike.

  • I won’t play this track, I don’t wanna get copyrighted.

More sentences with copyright

  • Most game console emulators do not come with any ROM images for copyright reasons.From the entry image
  • The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.From the entry author
  • The author named on the copyright registration for the Android robot is Google Inc.From the entry author
  • As the copyright in this book has lapsed, it is now in the public domain.From the entry public domain
  • When quoting others, take care not to run afoul of copyright rules.From the entry run afoul of
  • Many websites are copyrighted and do not have any open content.From the entry open content
  • The record label DMCAed several Web sites that were hosting copyrighted song lyrics.From the entry DMCA
  • The author asserted her right to paternity on the book's copyright page.From the entry paternity
  • They took a firm stand against copyright infringement.From the entry stand
  • Copyright in the typographical arrangement rests with the Crown.From the entry rest
  • Most people got away with Napster piracy, but a few people were sued for gigantic sums because copyright holders intended to make an example of them.From the entry make an example of
  • The use of AI-generated content introduces complex questions regarding copyright and ownership.2025 August 26, David Heasley, “AI in legal practice: Navigating privacy, hallucinations, and IP risks”, in LawyersWeekly, archived from…. From the entry protectability
  • Under Australian law, copyright generally applies to original works authored by humans.2025 August 26, David Heasley, “AI in legal practice: Navigating privacy, hallucinations, and IP risks”, in LawyersWeekly, archived from…. From the entry protectability
  • Licensing copyrighted work for sloppification could delight superfans and introduce material to new audiences.2025 October 16, Patrick Foulis, “Sloponomics: who wins and loses in the AI-content flood?”, in The Economist. From the entry sloppification
  • Many commentators have argued that training AI with copyrighted material constitutes “fair use”2023 August 19, Alex Reisner, “Revealed: The Authors Whose Pirated Books Are Powering Generative AI”, in The Atlantic. From the entry fair use
  • Subject to section 5(1), copyright subsists only by virtue of this Act.2021, Parliament of Singapore, “Copyright Act 2021”, in Republic of Singapore Government Gazette, Acts Supplementᵂⁱᵏⁱˢᵒᵘʳᶜᵉ, page 76. From the entry subsist
  • If a competitor wrongfully copies the map, copyright traps may prove useful in a court case.2019, Per Mollerup, Pretense Design: Surface Over Substance, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 176. From the entry copyright trap
  • It is true, of course, that a combination of unprotectable elements may qualify for copyright protection.2018 August 21, U.S. Copyright Office Review Board, “Second Request for Reconsideration for Refusal to Register Vodafone Speechmark”, in…. From the entry unprotectable
  • But it is not true that any combination of unprotectable elements automatically qualifies for copyright protection.2018 August 21, U.S. Copyright Office Review Board, “Second Request for Reconsideration for Refusal to Register Vodafone Speechmark”, in…. From the entry unprotectable
  • Richards does not make such a claim, nor does he allege that Merriam-Webster's copyright certificate is invalid.2014, United States District Court, D. Massachusetts, Richards v. Merriam-Webster, Inc.. From the entry noninfringement
  • Infoanarchists have emerged as part of the broader copyright social conflict and copyright debate.2012, Jesse Russell, Ronald Cohn, Infoanarchism. From the entry infoanarchist
  • Doom and gloom abounded among copyright scholars, including many who shared Mr.2008, James Boyle, The Public Domain. From the entry doom and gloom
  • Google does the "Napstering"-sharing of public and copyrighted materials they take possession of, online.2005 December 22, 19th century nuthouses, “Odd Google Logo Today???”, in 24hoursupport.helpdesk (Usenet). From the entry Napster
  • It’s a little—OK, just a little—like slapping a copyright notice along the bottom of the Mona Lisa.2001 December 10, “With all these crawls, I’m walking”, in Electronic Media, page 25. From the entry Mona Lisan
  • As 'Ozone Pilot', one former warez d00d, wrote: Warez d00dz get illegal copies of copyrighted software.1996, Eric S Raymond, The new hacker's dictionary. From the entry d00d
  • Maybe it’s stressed out about copyrighted translations.2023 September 5, Elif Batuman, “Proust, ChatGPT and the case of the forgotten quote”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry squirrelly
  • Not only is this concern-trolling disingenuous, but the ruling itself, grounded in copyright, is a smack against fair use.2023 April 4, Christine Kelley, “If we lose the Internet Archive, we're screwed”, in The Statesman. From the entry concern-trolling
  • It brings us one step closer to perpetual copyright – the idea that individuals should own their work forever.2023 April 4, Christine Kelley, “If we lose the Internet Archive, we're screwed”, in The Statesman. From the entry concern-trolling
  • The second critical C to understand and respect is copyright.2022, Iolanthe Gabrie, 100 Days of Brave, How to Launch a Business You Love in Three Months. From the entry startuppy

Meaning of copyright

  1. noun The right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship.
  2. noun Such an exclusive right as it pertains to one or more specific works.
  3. noun A violation of copyright law; copyright infringement.

Full definition of copyright

Questions about copyright in a sentence

How do you use copyright in a sentence?
Copyright is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Copyright is a separate legal area from trademarks.”
What is a short sentence with copyright?
“no copyright intended”
What does copyright mean?
Copyright means the right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: copyright (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use copyright in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/copyright. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.