What type of works can be copyrighted?

Typically, you can copyright literary and artistic works that are unique, original, and to which you can claim authorship. 

To be afforded copyright protection, a work must be both creative and fixed in a tangible medium. Ideas, facts, and processes are not eligible for copyright protection even if the author expends time and efforts into bringing such facts to light.

This is because copyright protects the form of expression, not the subject matter of the work.

For example, anyone is entitled to write his/her own novel about a woman’s love affairs set during the secession war in the US, but no one is entitled to call that woman Scarlet and have her fight to keep a house called Tara. That would just be borrowing too much from Margaret Mitchell’s’ original work Gone with the wind. Until that work falls into the public domain, permission should be obtained prior to using more than a fair use portion of the work.

Examples of works that can be afforded copyright protection are:

• Written materials such as novels, poems, plays
• Photographs
• Illustrations and sculptures
• Computer Software
• video games
• Music/Film
• Website Content
• Architectural designs
• Sculptures
• sheet music,
• recorded music performances
• choreography

Read more:

Copyright basics, how to protect your work?

Le droit d'auteur

Modèles de contrats