Copyright protects the

• words,
• images,
• sounds,
• etc.,

Copyright does not protect ideas or facts themselves.

Copyright does protect the selection and arrangment of ideas:, i.e., their original and creative expression, as soon as they are fixed in some tangible form.

The Requirements to Claim Copyright Are:

1. Fixation

   The ideas must be fixed in some tangible medium of expression.

   Copyright protection is automatic, although there are benefits (not covered here) to officially registering your work with the Copyright Office.

   Copyright protection is (now) immediate, as soon as the expression is fixed in tangible form. That is, it applies to drafts and completed works, both published and unpublished. (Not covered here are the additional conditions that applied in the past; they are not relevant to new work such as original material being created for the WWW.)

2. Originality

   A fixed expression of ideas is protected by copyright if and only if it is original.

   Neither quality nor uniqueness are required.

   • Even bad work is subject to copyright protection.
   • Works that are similar, but independently created, are individually subject to copyright protection.

3. Minimal Creativity

   Hard work is not enough to gain copyright protection.

   At least minimal creativity is also required.

   Examples:

   • A list of parts for a child's toy is probably not subject to copyright.
     • A sheet of instructions for assembling a toy from its parts may be subject to copyright.
   • A complete telephone white pages is not subject to copyright.
     • A categorized yellow pages directory may be subject to copyright.
     • A web-site that provides the means for searching a white pages database may be subject to copyright.