What Copyright Protects
Copyright protects a wide range of original works, including:
- literary works, books, poems, theses, written material
- musical compositions, song lyrics
- sound recordings
- paintings, drawings, photographs, logos, sculptures
- dramatic works, screenplays
- websites, software, source code
- choreographic works
- audiovisual works, motion pictures
- technical, architectural works
Copyrightable material must be original and contain a minimal level of creativity. Generally, works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression are not eligible for copyright protection.
Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, titles, names, slogans, procedures, methods, concepts, principles, and discoveries, although it may protect the way these things are expressed. This is because copyright protects the form of expression and not the underlying idea or subject matter.
An idea itself cannot be protected by copyright law because that would prevent others from expressing that idea in their own original works of authorship. However, if organized in an original manner, that "expression" of an idea could be protected by copyright. As long as the idea and the original expression of that idea can co-exist, copyright protection would be available.
- Introduction
- What Copyright Protects
- Exclusive Rights
- Multiple Works - One Application
- Benefits of Copyright Registration
- If You Don't Register
- Copyright, Trademark, or Patent
- Who Can Register
- Work Made for Hire
- Joint Works
- Non U.S. Applicants
- Pseudonyms
- Copyright Notice
- Copyright Deposit or Date Stamp
- Governing Law
- International Protection
- Publication
- Derivative Works
- Changed Work
- Copyright Infringement
- Non-Infringing Use
- Public Domain
- Moral Rights
- Logos
- Names & Phrases
- Recipes
- Cartoons & Comic Strips
- Photographs
- Play, Treatments & Scripts
- Visual Arts
