What Copyright Protects...

Section 102 of the copyright law defines what is protected by copyright. Copyright protects “original works of authorship” that are “fixed in any tangible means of expression.” Many kinds of works are eligible for copyright protection, including:

• Literary works
• Musical works, including any accompanying words
• Dramatic works, including any accompanying music
• Pantomimes and choreographic works
• Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
• Sound recordings
• Architectural works

These categories are to be interpreted broadly. Literary works, for example, include not only what we think of as literature, but also things like letters, newspaper articles, and computer software.

Originality is the first requirement for copyright protection.

At the most basic level, originality in copyright means that the work came from the inspiration of the author. Clearly, new writings, new photographs or paintings, new computer programs are eligible for copyright. But copyright protection can also extend to works that aren’t so clearly “new.” Facts or ideas, for example, can not be copyrighted; however, their arrangement (as in a table) may be eligible for protection. Translations of literary works are copyrightable as works in their own right.

How much originality is enough to qualify for copyright protection? Not surprisingly, this question has been before the courts frequently. In general, the courts have ruled that originality requires some spark of creativity. And how much is a “spark?” In short, not much. For example, in Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., the Supreme Court ruled that the alphabetical listings in the white pages of a telephone directory lacked the required creativity; however, in Bellsouth Adver. & Publ. Corp. v. Donnelley Info Publ’g, Inc., an appeals court ruled that by arranging listings into subject groupings, a yellow pages listing may demonstrate sufficient originality for protection.

Fixed in a Tangible Means of Expression:

The second requirement for copyright protection is that a work be “fixed in a tangible means of expression.” In other words, a work must be more than transitory in nature, and it must be fixed in a form that can be identified and perceived either by the human eye or by a machine, such as a computer. Under these guidelines, websites, computer programs, films, as well as the written word, are all eligible for copyright protection.

..and What It Doesn’t

Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, or discoveries, although it may protect the particular expression of these. This is why, for example, so many books or movies can have essentially the same plot; the idea is not copyrightable, but the particular expression of it is. In addition, there are several general categories of material which usually are not eligible for copyright protection. These are:

• Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded)
• Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, let¬tering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents
• Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration
• Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)