Copyright infringement occurs when works that fall under copyright protection are used in whole or in part (with the exclusion of Fair Use) without the copyright holder's permission. The owner of the copyright (not necessarily the creator of the work) holds the rights to the material and is the only one who can give permission for others to use it.

Copyright infringement is the civilly illegal use of creative works without the permission of the owner of the copyright on the works. The owner of the copyright is usually, though not always, the person who created the work. Copyrighted work can include music, video, writing, painting, photographs, lyrics and creative, tangible works.

Once the work is put into a tangible form--a form in which others can read it, see it, or use it in some way--it is given an instant natural copyright, granted to the person who created the work. That person then has the option of getting a registered copyright, which allows more protection in court should copyright infringement occur. If the creator doesn't choose to register the copyright, a natural copyright is still in place on the work.

Only the creator of the work at this point has the right to grant anyone else permission to use the work, in any fixed means, other than the exclusions granted by Fair Use. The copyright holder can choose to transfer the copyright to someone else (usually, but not always for monetary exchange), or to license others to use the work. If the copyright is transferred to someone else, then only the copyright owner has the right to grant permission.

Any use of the work--not included in the Fair Use exclusion--that is used without the express permission of the copyright owner is considered copyright infringement.

Copyright infringement and plagiarism are not the same thing, but the two do usually go hand-in-hand. Copyright infringement means to use someone else's works, in whole or in part, with or without attribution, but always without permission.

Plagiarism is using someone else's works as though it were your own, by either passing it off as though you wrote it or by failing to properly attribute the work, letting others believe you completed the work yourself. Plagiarism also doesn't require an exact copy of the work to be considered plagiarized, as long as a good portion of the work is obviously from someone else.

When copyright infringement and plagiarism go together, it's usually because someone copied someone else's creative works, in whole or in part, and then allowed it to appear they were the original creator.

1. Independent Creation: A piece of work was created independently, but contains similarities to previously copyrighted work.
2. De Minimis Copying: Material used is considered trivial.
3. First-sale Doctrine: Material purchased may be sold or given to another as long as additional copies aren't made.
4. Fair Use: Materials can be used for scholarship or review as long as they follow the four-factor balancing test.