Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country that grants the creator of an original

work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time. The exclusive rights
are not absolute; they are limited by limitations and exceptions to copyright law, including fair
use.
Copyright is a form of intellectual property, applicable to any expressed representation of a
creative work. Under US copyright law, however, legal protection attaches only
to fixed representations in a tangible medium.[1] It is often shared among multiple authors, each of
whom holds a set of rights to use or license the work, and who are commonly referred to
as rightsholders.[2] These rights frequently include reproduction, control over derivative works,
distribution, public performance, and "moral rights" such as attribution.

A royalty (sometimes, running royalties, or private sector taxes) is a usage-based payment

made by one party (the "licensee") to another (the "licensor") for the right to ongoing use of
an asset, sometimes an intellectual property (IP). Royalties are typically agreed upon as a
percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or a fixed price per unit
sold of an item of such, but there are also other modes and metrics of compensation.

A patent (/ptnt/ or /petnt/) is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an

inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of
an invention. An invention is a solution to a specific technological problem and is a product or a
process.[1]:17 Patents are a form of intellectual property.

Copyleft
an arrangement whereby software or artistic work may be used, modified, and
distributed freely on condition that anything derived from it is bound by the same
conditions.

Open access (OA) means unrestricted online access to research. Open access is primarily
intended for peer-reviewed academic journals, but is also provided for a growing number
of theses,[2] book chapters,[3] and monographs.[4]
Open access comes in two degrees: gratis open access, which is online access free of charge,
and libre open access, which is online access free of charge and with some additional usage
rights.[5] These additional usage rights are often granted through the use of various
specific Creative Commons licenses.