Copyrights

A lot of people still think that creative works are only copyrighted when the author files some sort of application. That's a common misconception.

Under the Berne convention, any creative work is automatically copyrighted. In other words, this protection is granted even when the author or artist does not explicitly assert or declare any copyright claim.

Hence, if you were to copy someone's work verbatim, then you would almost certainly be guilty of copyright infringement. If you modify the wording though, then you might not be, depending on the nature of the original work and the nature and extent of the modifications. (Naturally, the less trivial or obvious the original work is, the more extensive the modifications would have to be.) There is also a "fair use" exception, but that can only be used in limited situations.

Unfortunately, there is no formula to determine when a modified work is too close to the original; after all, how would one derive such a formula? In all matters of intellectual property rights (copyright, trademark, and patent infringement), multiple criteria and a measure of subjectivity are involved.