For the copying guideline in Wikipedia see WP:Copying within Wikipedia. Look up copying in Wiktionary the free dictionary.

Copying is the duplication of information or an artifact based only on an instance of that information or artifact and not using the process that originally generated it. With analog forms of information copying is only possible to a limited degree of accuracy which depends on the quality of the equipment used and the skill of the operator. There is some inevitable deterioration and accumulation of "noise" (random small changes not sound) from original to copy; when successive generations of copy are made this deterioration accumulates with each generation. With digital forms of information copying is perfect. Copy and paste is frequently used for information a computer user selects and copies to an area he or she wishes.

Most high-accuracy copying techniques use the principle that there will be only one type of possible interpretation for each reading of data and only one possible way to write an interpretation of dataclarification needed. Contents 1 In art and literature 1.1 In literature 1.2 In art 2 Biological copying 3 Digital copying 4 Copying rights 5 External links In art and literature This section requires expansion. In literature

Prior to the invention of the printing press the only way to obtain a copy of a book was to copy it out by hand. Throughout the Middle Ages monks copied entire texts as a way of disseminating and preserving religious texts. In art

In visual art copying the works of the masters is a standard way that students learn to paint. Biological copying Main article: DNA replication

Organically copying of genetic information can take place using DNA replication which is able to copy and replicate the data with a high degree of accuracy but mistakes are common and occur in the form of mutations. However in the process of DNA repair many of the mistakes are resolved by checking the copied data against the original data. Digital copying

This principle is applied digitally such as in hard disks but in a different form. The magnetised data on the disk consists of 1's and 0's. Unlike DNA it only has two types of information rather than four types however it still has a polar concept of transfer. In this case the read-write head acts as an intermediary. A data section reading "1" can only trigger one type of response and "0" for the other. These responses from reading are converted into an electrical form that gets carried through the circuits. Although this can be later converted and processed for other ways of using the data which can be modified if a file were being copied from one hard disk to another the principle ensures that the data is transferred with high fidelity because only each type of signal can only trigger one type of data write in this case a 1 or a 0. This excludes exceptions where the data was written incorrectly or the existing data has been corrupted while on the disk such that no distinction can be made but usually the hard disk returns the area as unreadable. The other concept that using digital copying is website copy1 digital copying has more interpretation than just the basic concept of disk read and write itself. Digital Copy is a sample of interpretation of digital copying. Copying rights Main article: Copyright

The concept of copying has a particular significance in certain areas of law. In each of the primary areas of intellectual property law a number of cases have refined the question of what exactly constitutes the kind of copying prohibited by law especially in areas such as copyright law.

A related concept is plagiarism copying others' work and passing it off as one's own. External links Dataduplication