Section 15.1 Communicating in a Digital Society 361 Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Fair use doctrine allows individuals to use copyrighted works without permission in limited situations under very strict guidelines. Fair use doctrine allows copyrighted material to be used for the purpose of describing or reviewing the work. For example, a student writing about the material in an original report is an example of fair use. Another example is a product-review website providing editorial comment. Fair use doctrine does not change the copyright or ownership of the material used under the doctrine. In some cases, individuals or organizations may wish to allow others to use their intellectual property without needing permission. This type of use assignment may be called copyleft, which is a play on the word copyright. One popular method of allowing use of intellectual property is a Creative Commons license. A Creative Commons (CC) license is a specialized copyright license that allows free distribution of copyrighted work. If the creator of the work wants to give the public the ability to use, share, or advance his or her original work, a Creative Commons license provides that fl exibility. The creator maintains the copyright and can specify how the copyrighted work can be used. For example, one type of Creative Commons license prohibits commercial use. Public domain refers to material that is not owned by anybody and can be used without permission. Material can enter the public domain when a copyright expires and is not renewed. Much of the material created by federal, state, or local governments is often in the public domain. This is because taxpayer money was used to create it. Additionally, the owner of the material may choose to give up ownership and place the material in the public domain. Patent A patent gives a person or company the right to be the sole producer of a product for a defi ned period of time. Patents protect an invention that is functional or mechanical. The invention must be considered useful and inoffensive, and it must be operational. This means that an idea may not be patented. A process can be patented under certain conditions. The process must be related to a particular machine or transform a substance or item into a different state or thing. Trademark A trademark protects taglines, slogans, names, symbols, and any unique method to identify a product or company. A service mark is similar to a trademark, but it identifi es a service rather than a product. Trademarks and service marks do not protect a work or product. They only protect the way in which the product is described. The term “trademark” is often used to refer to both trademarks and service marks. Trademarks never expire.