What exactly is a copyright?
A copyright is a type of intellectual property protection over certain eligible works. These jobs include (but are not limited to):
- Literary works (books, website copy, articles, stories, etc.)
- Two-dimensional works of art (painting, photography, graphic design, etc.)
- Performing arts (scripts, lyrics, etc.)
- Sound recordings (music, music and lyrics together, recordings of speeches, etc.
- Architectural designs
What does it mean to be a copyright holder?
The copyright holder has the following exclusive legal rights:
- The right to use your work, whether for profit or otherwise.
- The right to distribute the work or perform the work in public.
- The right to make copies of the work.
- The right to create a derivative work (such as a movie or sequel based on a book)
- The right to allow any other person to exercise these rights.
If any of these things are done without the express permission of the copyright holder, it will be considered copyright infringement.
What kinds of things cannot be copyrighted?
The three main types of intellectual property, copyrights, trademarks, and patents, are layers of protection, but the scope of that protection is quite different. Copyright registration is a type of protection available only for works of “original authorship”, something that has been created by someone, that is “fixed in a tangible medium”, something that exists, either physically or digitally.
Some examples of things that do not meet this criteria are:
- Names
- Titles, including book titles (although they may bear a trademark)
- Short phrases
- Logos, if they do not have significant authorship
- Recipes (although instructions may be copyrighted, a list of ingredients and volumes may not)
- Blank charts or graphs
- Calendars (but attached images can be protected as 2-D illustrations)
- Inventions (this would be a patent)
Furthermore, anything taken from the public domain (older works whose copyrights have expired; works specifically dedicated to the public domain) or considered public knowledge (sporting event times; standard measurements) would not be eligible for protection from the public domain. Copyright.
