What type of law prohibits including someone else's work without attribution?

The correct answer is copyright, which is a form of intellectual property law that grants the creator of original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, typically for a limited time, with the intention of protecting the creator's work from unauthorized use. Copyright law explicitly prohibits including someone else's work without proper attribution, which means that people must either obtain permission to use the work or provide appropriate credit to the original creator when incorporating it into their own work. This protection covers various forms of expression, including literature, music, films, and software, ensuring that creators receive recognition and potentially financial benefits for their creations.

In contrast, patent law protects inventions by allowing inventors to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention for a specified period. Trade secret law protects confidential business information that provides a competitive edge and does not require attribution but rather focuses on maintaining the secrecy of the information. Trademark law protects symbols, names, and slogans used to identify goods or services, ensuring that consumers can distinguish one brand from another, but it also does not address the issue of attribution for creative works. Thus, copyright is specifically designed to address the need for crediting original creators.