ESEPSY 2060: Academic Success Strategies for International Students

Copyright is a bundle of rights given to authors and creators to control certain uses of their creative works. These rights exist for a limited amount of time. Under U.S. law, copyright protects “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression.” Works do not need to be novel to receive copyright protection, but they must be independently created and possess some creative spark.

Works of authorship may fall into many different categories, including:

• Literary works;
• Musical works (including accompanying words);
• Dramatic works (including accompanying music);
• Pantomimes and choreographic works;
• Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; 
• Motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
• Sound recordings; and
• Architectural works. 

What can’t be protected by copyright? Copyright protects creative works of authorship but it does not protect ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operations, concepts, principles, or discoveries. 

More information:

• Copyright Services: Copyright Basics
• Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
• Copyright Law of the United States (text of title 17 of the United States Code)