Handout 2

Know your (copy)Rights

What works are protected:

Copyright protects “original works of authorship” that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. Copyrightable works include the following categories:

• 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 records
• Architectural works

What works aren’t protected:

Several categories of material are generally not eligible for protection. These include among others:

• Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression. For example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, 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; lettering or coloring; or mere listings of ingredients or contents.
• Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devises, 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.

How long does copyright continue?

A work that is created on or after January 1, 1978 is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author’s life plus an additional 50 years after the author’s death.

For works made for hire, the duration of the copyright is 75 years from publication or 100 years from creation, whichever is shorter.