What legal concept allows creators to prevent unauthorized copying of their materials?

The legal concept that allows creators to prevent unauthorized copying of their materials is copyright. Copyright is specifically designed to protect original works of authorship, including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, among others. This protection grants creators exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and display their work, preventing others from using it without permission.

Creators automatically obtain copyright protection the moment they fix their original work in a tangible medium, such as writing it down or recording it. This creates a framework that ensures a creator’s intellectual property rights are recognized and respected, ultimately giving them control over how their work is used and allowing them to derive financial benefit from their creativity.

In contrast, trademarks protect symbols, names, and slogans that distinguish goods or services, patents cover inventions and grant rights to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention for a limited time, and trade secrets protect confidential business information from being disclosed or used without authorization. Each of these concepts serves different purposes within intellectual property law, but when it comes to preventing unauthorized copying of creative material specifically, copyright is the relevant legal mechanism.