"Copyright is the sole and exclusive right of a copyright owner to produce, reproduce, perform, publish, adapt, translate and telecommunicate a work, and to control the circumstances in which others may do any of these things. These rights are subject to certain exceptions under the Copyright Act which balance the copyright owner’s interests with the public interest in allowing use of works for purposes such as education and research". (Source: Copyright Guide: Copyright Basics)
As the author of a document, you automatically own the copyright unless you have transferred the copyright or you have released the information for use under an alternative approach, such as a creative commons license. If you created a document as part of your regular employment, your employer will own the copyright, and that happens without any sort of contract agreement.
When you submit a manuscript for publication, most scholarly journals will request that you transfer some or all of the copyright for the article to the journal. Transferring the copyright of your document means that you won't be able to use the information again in any form without permission from the publisher. This restriction includes distributing information to colleagues, posting information on a website, using the material in future research or sharing the information in a class. It doesn't matter if you post the material to a password-protected website; if you've transferred copyright, you no longer have the legal right to share the information without the expressed permission of the publisher.
Copyright automatically is attached to your work and you own it until you transfer it.
