ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Authors' rights

Hello there! I'll do my best to explain authors' rights to you just like you are 5 years old.

When someone writes a story, a song, or a poem, it's their own special creation. That means the author owns the rights to that creation. It's kind of like having a special toy that only you get to play with.

Because the author owns the rights, they get to decide what happens to their creation. They can decide who can read, listen to, or even see their creation. Just like when you share your toys with your friends, the author can decide who gets to share in their creation.

In some cases, the author can even make money from their creation. That's because they own the rights to it. Just like when you run a lemonade stand and make money from selling your lemonade.

Sometimes, other people might want to use the author's creation in a movie, a video game, or even a book. When that happens, the author has to give the other person permission to use their creation. And if someone uses the author's creation without their permission, that's not fair because they're basically taking something that doesn't belong to them.

So, in summary, authors' rights mean that the person who created something owns it and gets to decide what happens to it, even if it means making money from it. And other people have to ask for permission before they can use the creation.