Copyrights do not protect ideas, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or works produced in a non-fixed medium.

“Circular 1: Copyright Basics,” U.S. Copyright Office, September 2021, pp. 1-2, https://copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf.

What Works Are Protected?

Examples of copyrightable works include

• 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, which are works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds

• Architectural works

These categories should be viewed broadly for the purpose of registering your work. For example, computer programs and certain “compilations” can be registered as “literary works”; maps and technical drawings can be registered as “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works.”

NOTE: Before 1978, federal copyright was generally secured by publishing a work with an appropriate copyright notice. U.S. works2 that were in the public domain on January 1, 1978, when the 1976 Copyright Act took effect, remain in the public domain under the 1976 Act.

What Are the Rights of a Copyright Owner?

• Reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords3

• Prepare derivative works based upon the work

• Distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending

• Perform the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a motion picture or other audiovisual work

• Display the work publicly if it is a literary, musical, dramatic, or choreographic work; a pantomime; or a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work. This right also applies to the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work.

• Perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission if the work is a sound recording

Copyright also provides the owner of copyright the right to authorize others to exercise these exclusive rights, subject to certain statutory limitations.

What Is Not Protected by Copyright?

• Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, or discoveries

• Works that are not fixed in a tangible form (such as a choreographic work that has not been notated or recorded or an improvisational speech that has not been written down)

• Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans

• Familiar symbols or designs

• Mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring

• Mere listings of ingredients or contents