Who is considered the owner of the copyright?

The owner of the copyright is referred to as the copyright holder. This individual or entity possesses the exclusive rights granted by copyright law, which includes the ability to reproduce, distribute, display, and perform the work, as well as to create derivative works. Typically, the copyright holder is the person who created the work, which often is the author. However, copyright can also be transferred to another entity, such as a business or publisher, making them the copyright holder.

In this context, the other options refer to individuals or entities that may have certain rights related to the work, but they do not necessarily own the copyright. A licensee, for instance, is someone who has received permission from the copyright holder to use the work in a specified way under a license agreement. An author is often the copyright holder but may not always retain those rights, especially in cases where they have transferred ownership to a publisher or a company. A distributor is responsible for distributing the work to the public, but they do not hold copyright ownership unless they have acquired those rights. Thus, identifying the copyright holder as the owner accurately reflects the structure of copyright law and who maintains the legal rights to a creative work.