What materials are protected by copyright? How do I know?
Copyright protection is automatic as soon as an idea is expressed in a fixed form (this means put on paper, recorded, published, blogged, e-mailed, etc.)
Copyright belongs to creators of the following material:
- Literary, dramatic, artistic, musical works (e.g. book, letter, e-mail, blog, computer program, compilation, government publication, script, play, film, painting, sculpture, photograph, map, architectural drawing, sheet music, compositions, music video, etc.)
- Sound recording (e.g. lectures, animal sounds, nature sounds, music, audio book, etc.)
- Performances (e.g. dancing, singing, acting, etc.)
- Communication signals (e.g. pay-per-view, radio, satellite, broadcasts, etc.)