What is a Copyright?

David Malick
Writer in the park

Broadly speaking, a copyright is a kind of intellectual property designed to protect an “author’s” original work fixed in any tangible medium of expression. The author might be the creator of a:

  • literary work (like fiction, nonfiction, poetry, periodicals, textbooks, reference works, computer programs etc.),
  • musical work (like music, lyrics and music integrated as a single work),
  • dramatic work (like plays, screenplays, operas, musical comedies, where someone can see the event or story lived, etc.),
  • pantomime and choreographic work (like abstract dance; the composition and arrangement of a related series of dance movements and patterns organized into a coherent whole, even if it does not tell a story),
  • pictorial, graphic, and sculptural work (like photographs, prints, art reproductions, maps, globes, charts, diagrams, etc.),
  • motion picture and other audio-visual work (related images which impart an impression of motion, sound that accompanies the images, like recorded telecasts of sports games, non-textual elements of commercials, video games etc.);
  • sound recordings (like music, spoken, or other sounds);
  • architectural work (like the design of a building, architectural plans or drawings);
  • compilation, collective work (like a periodical, an anthology, or an encyclopedia);
  • derivative work (employs preexisting material or data, like a translation, a musical arrangement of a work, an abridgement of another work);
  • restored work (like a copyrighted work that has entered the public domain); and
  • government work (like a reference that produces and maintains the law with an economic incentive).

These categories are important to identify what is and is not a copyrightable work and as categories to use when applying to register a copyrightable work with the United States Copyright Office. (How to file for a copyright registration will be discussed in a separate entry.)

Works not usually protected by a copyright because they lack originality include:

  • words or short phrases (like names, titles, or slogans);
  • typeface designs (like Times New Roman);
  • a listing of ingredients;
  • blank forms for recording information;
  • works consisting of information that is common (like a calendar, height and weight chart, a tape measurer, a schedule of upcoming events, lists or tables taken from public documents);
  • historical facts;
  • standard literary devices (like incidents, scenes, or characters that are standard in the treatment of a subject, for instance “drunks,” or “prostitutes,” or “animals”);
  • works prepared by judges or legislators in the course of their work (like legal opinions or laws)

An “idea” is not copyrightable, but the expression of an idea may be copyrightable (i.e., a work). The Copyright Act protects an original work of authorship from the moment it is placed in a fixed or tangible form (like, on film, on paper, on tape, on a hard disc, etc.). A work is “fixed” when it is permanent or stable so that it can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than a transitory period. To be “original,” the work must be independently created by the author (in other words, not copied from a pre-existing source) and possess a minimal degree of creativity. The test for originality is not the amount of work that a person put into creating a work (like a telephone book with names in alphabetical order), but whether the work has some creative aspect.

If you would like to discuss copyrights in more depth, please feel free to contact me at RichardsonClement PC: