Copyright Protection: What Can Be Protected and What Cannot be Protected

copyright laws seek to prevent

unauthorized copying of works of

authorship and to protect the fruits of

the labor undertaken in developing such

works we will present an overview of

copyright law discussing questions such

as what is a copyright how our works

made protectable by copyright law and

what do copyright laws protect and not

protect what is a copyright copyright is

one of many intellectual property rights

intellectual property rights are rights

protected property interests even though

they are not tangible like a laptop or

house other intellectual property rights

include trademarks patents and trade

secrets u.s. copyright laws are codified

in title 17 of the United States Code in

the u.s. registration of a work is not

required to have a valid copyright just

producing and committing something to a

tangible form automatically gives you

the copyrights to that creation however

federal registration of a work with the

US Copyright Office part of the Library

of Congress provides additional options

and protections to the works author a

copyright is a legally recognized

property right protecting creative

original works that are fixed in a

tangible medium of expression capable of

being perceived reproduced or otherwise

communicated for instance a songwriter

that writes a song can use the notes app

on an iPhone to type or fix the lyrics

into a format that is tangible and

easily reproduced otherwise the lyrics

are just an idea in someone's mind and

not easily perceived or reproduced

likewise an oil painter fixes her work

onto a canvas a common medium of

expression for artists the same way that

a 3d animator might fix his short film

into a digital file format another

medium that falls within the scope of

the Copyright Act how our works made

protectable by copyright law original

works in creativity originality is a key

ingredient to the creation of a

copyright able work that's eligible for

protection the US Supreme Court

addresses the originality and creativity

requirements in the landmark case Feist

publications Inc vers rural telephone

service Company Inc in that case the

court stated that to qualify for

copyright protection a work must be

original to the author continuing the

Court emphasized that the work must be

independently created by the author and

it must possess at least some minimal

degree of creativity

in Feist rural telephone service company

Inc a telephone company that created a

phonebook sued Feist publications Inc a

company specializing in the creation of

phone books for copying entries from

rurals phonebook at the time copyright

law protected works under the sweat of

the brow doctrine which gave copyright

protection based on the time and effort

put into the creation of a work not

necessarily based on whether it was

original the Supreme Court held in favor

of Feist publications saying no one may

claim originality as to facts because

facts do not owe their origin to an act

of authorship

therefore facts are never original and

copyright law does not extend

protections to facts the court went on

to declare that the level of creativity

required for copyright is low and that a

work must be original to and

independently created by the author

works that contain factual information

may be registered so long as they have a

level of creativity or original

authorship that creates elements

eligible for registration for example a

newspaper or magazine article may be

eligible for copyright protections but

the protections do not extend to any

news elements within the article because

the information contained within is

merely information and within the public

domain therefore once an article or news

where the event is published by the

original publication other publications

may write their own articles or methods

of conveying the same newsworthy

information without infringing upon the

original story in an interesting

sidelight the US Copyright Office

recently had to issue a ruling that a

copyright able work needs to have been

created by a human being to be protected

in response to an attempt to copyright

selfies taken by a monkey ideas and non

fixed expressions another key ingredient

to a copyright is making sure the work

is fixed in a tangible medium of

expression if a work is not fixed it is

therefore not protectable under the

Copyright Act examples of works that

have not been fixed include choreography

that has never been filmed or notated an

extemporaneous speech that has not been

filmed or recorded a work communicated

solely through conversation or a live

broadcast that has not been filmed

recorded written or transcribed a

dramatic sketch or musical composition

improvised or developed from memory that

has not been filmed recorded or

transcribed the Copyright Act

specifically targets ideas when

providing guidance on

exceptions to the protections it offers

in no case states section 1 0 2 B does

copyright protection for an original

work of authorship extent to any idea

procedure process system method of

operation concept principle or discovery

regardless of the form in which it is

described explained Illustrated or

embodied in such work examples of such

works that are not subject to copyright

protection include the idea or concept

for a work of authorship the idea for a

character business operations or

procedures mathematical principles

formulas algorithms or equations an

example of the universal concept or

theme that is not eligible for copyright

protection arose from an early 20th

century case a court held that copyright

law does not protect a work created by

an author detailing a quarrel between a

Jewish father and an Irish father the

marriage of their children the birth of

grandchildren and a reconciliation this

is because the nature of the creative

work incorporates universal concepts and

universal themes of a story due to the

nature of section 1 0 to B it's

important for creators in the

entertainment and media industries to

understand that sharing an idea for a

movie screenplay or television series

with another person or company

especially when it's not a finalized or

finished product can make it more

difficult to properly protect the work

using copyright laws a related concept

that's important to understand is that

titles names and short phrases are not

eligible for copyright protection this

is because those types of works do not

meet the minimum amount of authorship

necessary incidentally trademark law

codified in the u.s. under the Lanham

Act also does not generally afford

protections to titles either trademark

protections may be available for Series

titles brand and trade names slogans or

phrases but not for individual books or

song titles Taylor Swift made headlines

with registration filings for a variety

of trademarks surrounding her 2014 album

1989 and its subsequent world tour

whether those filings would hold up in

court has not yet been tested there are

a variety of business decisions to

consider when it comes to protecting

intellectual property assets therefore a

proper understanding of the similarities

and differences between different types

of intellectual property is important

for more information about the

registration and various protections

available to works under the Copyright

Act the US copyright

this provides a free resource called the

compendium of us copyright office

practices available on the office

website copyright gov additionally the

office releases circulars and fact

sheets which offer further insights

divided by specific topics and can be

accessed for free from its website

copyright gov slash Sirk's