What is copyleft… (libervis wiki) a term being used for licenses that use copyright law to give permission instead of forbid, usually permission to copy, use, modify and share. As such “copyleft licenses” today lay at the foundation of the free culture world as they provide the means to preserve and continue building a free culture (free as in freedom).

Another explanation… (Wikipedia)Copyleft describes a group of licenses applied to works such as software, documents, and art. Where copyright law is seen by the original proponents of copyleft as a way to restrict the right to make and redistribute copies of a particular work, a copyleft license uses copyright law in order to ensure that every person who receives a copy or derived version of a work, can use, modify, and also redistribute both the work, and derived versions of the work. …

To read an excellent article on copy left for artists, designer and makers go to knit sisters. Alex explains all of this and how it might apply to us makers and gives some tips and ideas on how to make it work to our benefit. (scroll down a few paragraphs)

The approach of the free content movement—the copyleft people—has been to try to encourage copyright practices which allow great freedom for innovation and collaboration, but also offer the author certain controls over their work as well. The essence of it is that most people really don’t need to have “all rights reserved”—they can give away substantially more rights, if done carefully, and won’t suffer any negative consequences (that is, they can still make a buck off of their work).

an article at eye magazine by David M. Berry, Marcus McCallion titled Time to examine the debates about the ownership of intellectual property. They say:

Designers increasingly see the question of copyright and intellectual property as an important issue. More and more, they are concerned about being ‘ripped off’, and are told that establishing copyright is essential. But there is little understanding of what copyright is, how it works, whom it benefits or what alternatives there are. This Agenda hopes to raise awareness of the issues surrounding copyright and to empower the designer to make informed choices about how to use copyright and its alternative: copyleft.

an article titled The Copy Left Is Not Right by Brad Holland gives an alternative view on copyleft and looks at the issues from small designers and big corporations perspectives.

A new “rights movement” is taking shape around the issue of creators’ rights. In theory, its goal is to benefit the general public. But if successful, it will affect the careers and legacies of freelancers everywhere. And artists, writers and photographers who are already confused about how to protect their copyrights can now say hello to a new ride at the Funhouse.

At article about copyleft and creative commons as an alternative at designerati

In the broadest sense, copyleft is the process of making a work (program, design, artwork, et. al.) free – if not in price, then in the sense of “freedom”, to extend the right to change and redistribute a work, and requiring that all modified or extended derivatives be free in this way as well. This is in contradistinction to public domain – where a work is released to the world without restrictions or obligations on its use of any sort.

Find out more go to creative commons

Too often the debate over creative control tends to the extremes. At one pole is a vision of total control — a world in which every last use of a work is regulated and in which “all rights reserved” (and then some) is the norm. At the other end is a vision of anarchy — a world in which creators enjoy a wide range of freedom but are left vulnerable to exploitation. Balance, compromise, and moderation — once the driving forces of a copyright system that valued innovation and protection equally — have become endangered species.

Creative Commons is working to revive them. We use private rights to create public goods: creative works set free for certain uses. Like the free software and open-source movements, our ends are cooperative and community-minded, but our means are voluntary and libertarian. We work to offer creators a best-of-both-worlds way to protect their works while encouraging certain uses of them — to declare “some rights reserved.”