Copyright: Also called intellectual property, it is the proprietary right of control over literary or artistic creations.

Duration: Period in which creative works enjoy copyright protection before they fall into the public domain. 

Economic effect: The monetary value of the work used in violation of copyright protection and the ensuing market value the copyright owner loses.

The Fair Use Doctrine: A court defined privilege extended for the the limited use of copyrighted work.

Fixation: The requirement that creative work be fixed in a tangible medium like: Paper, film, tape, disk etc.

The parody defense: A form of social criticism using copyrighted work for parody. Courts deem that the use of copyrighted works for parody falls under the fair use doctrine.

Public domain: The realm of creative works that have lost their copyright status or those that never had copyright protection in the first place. These works can be used freely without the author's permission.