Spring 2022 - 88

LEGAL CORNER
WHAT DO COPYRIGHT LAWS PROTECT?
BY ANGIE AVARD TURNER, J.D., LL.M.
Contributing Writer
Understanding copyright law as a Creative
T
he world of intellectual property is vast. Most
people have heard of trademarks, copyrights,
and patents, but the details are kind of fuzzy.
And many folks lump all of those protections together. So,
let's clarify and dig into one of these items by answering
the question, " What do copyright laws protect? "
There are many misconceptions surrounding
copyrights for those who don't need to live and breathe
intellectual property all day long. And for good reasons!
It can be pretty confusing to sort out what copyright laws
actually do. In short, a copyright is a legal protection the
government provides to authors of original works.
When we talk about copyright laws, the term " author "
refers to the work's creator, even if the creation isn't
literary. Copyright law protects a tangible form of
expression of the author's idea, not the idea itself. This
area of intellectual property law puts control of the
work in the hands of the author. That is, the creator has
the right to determine whether or not someone else can
copy or re-use the work.
There isn't a comprehensive list of items that can
have this protection, probably because the list would be
almost unending. But in general, the following types of
work can fall under copyright laws.
LITERARY WORKS
You do not have to be John Steinbeck or Maya Angelou to
receive copyright protection for your work. Literary doesn't
necessarily mean " taught in your college English classes. "
Any original, written creation counts. This includes: novels,
poems, screenplays, short stories, newspaper and magazine
articles, website content, sheet music, computer software
and social media copy.
As you can imagine, the amount of content in this
category is enormous and grows by leaps and bounds every
day. It grew as soon as I posted this blog to my website!
88 SPRING 2022 GIFT SHOP® PLUS
GRAPHIC AND PICTORIAL WORKS
Are you a visual creator? If so, this category covers
your work. It can include all of the following, to name
a few: photographs, drawings, maps, paintings, fashion
designs, textiles, sculptures and carvings, wallpaper
designs, and infographics.
What about all those cell phone photos you have? Do
copyright laws protect them? Most definitely! Each of
your silly selfies is protected by intellectual property
law. Since experts estimated that we took about 1.4
trillion photos in 2021 alone, there is a lot of content in
this copyright category.
SOUND RECORDINGS
On a recent thrift store adventure, my friend's
daughter found an old album of sound effects. It was a
pretty amusing collection of sounds, and each one has
copyright protection. Any original audio recordings
fall under this area of copyright protection, including:
songs, spoken word, instrumental music, sound effects
and live recordings.
ARCHITECTURAL WORKS
Buildings and the plans that go into them can receive
intellectual property protection. Once they are in
a tangible form, all of the following can fall under
copyright law: blueprints, models, drawings, diagrams
and original structures.
AUDIOVISUAL WORKS
If you create something original that a person can
watch on a screen, that creation has copyright protection.
This category includes the following items: television
shows, movies, animation, video games and original video
content for social media.
Spring 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spring 2022
