Copyright has become an interesting and heated debate in the past few years. Many people have been found guilty of downloading full length movies that were copyrighted. As well many people exchange full length copyrighted songs as well. There are many places however that charges a small free that allow you to legally download copyrighted material.

Copyright is the term used to describe any work that is created exclusively after 1984. These works are not in the public domain and are not free for all. However, things such as ideas or facts cannot be copyrighted. As well names can only be ‘trademarked’ and not copyrighted.

The rules involving copyright material being distributed are there to prevent for example, someone making copies of a full length movie that is copyrighted and then selling this movie to others. When this happens, the person who makes the movie does not receive his share of that sale. Copyright is also in place to prevent people copying songs and sharing them online without the musicians receiving any money from that potential sale.

Many people believe if they download a full length movie and just give it to their friends without charging, they have not violated copyright laws. However this is not true. Copyright laws pertain regardless if you give something away for free or sell it for money.

As well, another misconception is that copyright does not pertain to information on the Internet. However, the information that someone writes to the Internet web page is also copyrighted, even though many people visit these pages.

While others have defended their sharing of full length movies as fans whom really enjoyed the movie. They feel that by them giving the movies to their friends, they are helping to promote the success of the movie. However, by someone downloading a full length movie, the producers and actors do not receive money if that person would have bought the movie.