paulineRelevant Info on Copyright Protection
Copyright is the security provided to a form of original work against being reproduced unlawfully. This can be any kind of work ranging from writing, movies, paintings, photographs, musical recordings to live performances, sound broadcasts and computer software.
Copyright law gives the owner an edge over the others by authorizing him to replicate the work, generate more works based on the original piece, hand out copies of work for sale or lease and display his work in public. A copyrighted piece can only be reproduced if the owner authorizes another party otherwise an infringement case can be filed against the accused work.
The copyright only covers the overall form or the manner of expression of the idea displayed. It does not deal with the real idea, fact, concept or technique. For instance, when a movie is copyrighted, the final end product is saved from being reproduced by another party without permission but it cannot restrict others from making movies using the same or different techniques.
What pieces can be copyrighted?
Copyright law applies to any form of original work in a tangible form. These include stories on paper, songs on tape and computer programs on disks. Any piece of work that is copyrighted falls in one of the following categories: architectural work; dramatic works including accompanying music; literary works; motion pictures; musical works including accompanying words; pantomimes and choreographic works; pictorial, sculptural, graphic works; sound recordings.
What Copyright law pertains to?
Copyright does not pertain to all kinds of work. For this law to apply, certain conditions have to be considered. The work must be in a tangible form; a hard copy is necessary. If a tangible form does not exist, this Copyright law cannot apply. For instance a speech or performance that was never written or recorded, cannot be copyrighted.Ideas, concepts, procedures, discoveries, devices, methods, etc. are not legible for the application of copyright law.
Similarly short phrases, titles, names, slogans, familiar designs or symbols, lettering, coloring, contents, ingredients, etc. cannot be work that is made up of common property and contains no original authorship such as tape measures, rules, calendars, lists, tables, height charts, weight charts, etc.
Copyright law provides protection against unlawful and replication of original works but only in tangible forms. Though lots of working has already been done to improve this Copyright law, copyright law still faces quite a few challenges. Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time.
