as in patent
the legal right to be the only one to reproduce, publish, and sell a book, musical recording, etc., for a certain period of time
His family still holds the copyright to his songs. laws that protect copyrights
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Recent Examples of copyright
Excerpted from The Power and the Glory by Jonathan Wilson, copyright © 2025 by Jonathan Wilson.
—
Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
The record companies accused the two AI platforms of massive copyright infringement by training their models on millions of unlicensed works from their catalogs.
—Ethan Millman, HollywoodReporter, 30 Oct. 2025
The result was captivating — so much so that Nosferatu persisted as a cult film even after a judge ordered all copies to be destroyed in a copyright dispute with the Stoker estate.
—Katie Rife, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
The production designer also used her own old family photos to ensure there wouldn’t be any snags in copyright clearance and licensing.
—Mara Reinstein, Architectural Digest, 30 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for copyright
Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
The record companies accused the two AI platforms of massive copyright infringement by training their models on millions of unlicensed works from their catalogs.
—Ethan Millman, HollywoodReporter, 30 Oct. 2025
The result was captivating — so much so that Nosferatu persisted as a cult film even after a judge ordered all copies to be destroyed in a copyright dispute with the Stoker estate.
—Katie Rife, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
The production designer also used her own old family photos to ensure there wouldn’t be any snags in copyright clearance and licensing.
—Mara Reinstein, Architectural Digest, 30 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for copyright
Recent Examples of Synonyms for copyright
patent
Noun
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Conceived during the final years of the Second World War and known today primarily from a French patent (FR907544), the Train d’Assaut imagined an articulated, multi‑section armored vehicle that moved less like a conventional tank and more like a mechanical centipede.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
26 Jan. 2026
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Anshel Sag Xreal filed a patent infringement lawsuit against rival AR glasses maker Viture, extending an earlier legal clash that began in Germany.—
Charlie Fink,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Copyright.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/copyright. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.
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