What are alternatives to copyright?

Answer 1

Materials that are not protected by copyright are said to be in the public domain. This generally applies to very old materials on which protection has expired, or works of the federal government, however the copyfree movement encourages creators to essentially donate their works to the public domain. Copyleft is similar, but requires all materials using a copyleft original as a starting place also to be distributed as copyleft.

A Creative Commons license, often seen as an anti-copyright movement, relies on the framework of copyright law, using it to create a broad set of licenses rather than many very specific ones.

Some artists, mainly in jewelry and metalwork, are applying for design patents rather than copyright protection on their work, but this is still fairly uncommon.

Answer 2

One popular "alternative" to a copyright is the 'Poor Man's Copyright.' This entails placing a copyrightable work in a sealed envelope and mailing it to oneself. The idea is that the work will thus be post marked with a date and sealed giving a record of having the work first. However, it does not prove authorship, which is essential in copyright law.

There are no "good" alternatives to copyrights. Copyrights give their owners so many more rights than any other means of intellectual property protection. The next best thing is keeping a work in a safe and never publishing it. It is better to just pay the $35-$45 dollar fee to have a work copyrighted with the US Copyright Office.