Copyright

Copyright seems to be the topic most people in entertainment know about, but few people actually understand. This is going to be a quick overview on copyright and why it is important to the entertainment world.

Copyright is defined legally as an "original work(s) of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated..." That's great, right? But what does that mean? Let us break it down.

An "original work of authorship" is any new concept that fits into a legally defined category of protection. The categories of protection includes such things as: literary, musical, dramatic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, audiovisual, architectural, or sound recording. So, if you have an idea which is new and can be placed into one of those legally defined categories, you are half way there.

The next step in copyright is to place your idea in "any tangible medium of expression". Essentially, you must be able to place your idea into a format which can be physically manipulated. But, wait, what about sound recordings? You can't physically manipulate a sound recording, right? True. That is why we must combine the next section of the law which states, "from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated...". Basically, if you have an idea, even on in an electronic format, which you can convey to other people from some physical object, then you have a copyright.

That's it. To have a copyright that is all you are required to have. You do not have to register your copyright to have copyright protection. However, that said, registering your work with the U.S. copyright office makes it a lot easier to legally defend your work should someone violate your copyright.

Next time we will talk about what a copyright gives you the right to do and what you can do with it.