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5.3.2: Is it Covered By Copyright?

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    261441

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    Copyright covers original work that is fixed in a tangible medium of expression.

    Several types of works can be protected including:

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

    What Isn’t Covered by Copyright?

    Not all works are covered by copyright. Those not covered include:

    Works already in the public domain

    • Moby Dick
    • Shakespeare’s plays
    • Beethoven’s works

    Works not fixed in a tangible medium

    • A song in your head, but not recorded or written down

    Ideas

    • Boy meets girl, they fall in love and live happily ever after
    • Hero protagonist saves the world with the help of wacky sidekick

    Facts

    • 1+1=2
    • King George IV died in 1830
    • Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark

    Works of the U.S. government produced by government employees

    Copyright in Cases of a Work Made for Hire

    If you create something as part of your job duties, it is likely a work made for hire. In these cases, your employer is considered the author and rights holder of a work made for hire rather than the employee. Read the United States Copyright Office’s Works Made for Hire circular for a more nuanced discussion.

    Exercises: Copyrightable?

    An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
    https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/ctar/?p=211#h5p-31

    5.3.2: Is it Covered By Copyright? is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Ohio State University Libraries & Ellen Carey.