"I. Fred Koenigsberg - Copyright Primer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Koenigsberg I Fred)

The Copyright Act specifies that copyright extends to "original works of
authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later
developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced or otherwise
communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device" [FN3].
Many of the requirements for copyrightability may be gleaned from this
provision:

- The work must be an "original work of authorship." Thus, unlike patent
rights, originality, and not novelty, constitutes the touchstone of
protection. Courts have defined what makes a work "original" both positively
(the "spark of creativity," or "something ... which is *345 one man's
alone") and negatively (as constituting that which has not been copied from
another, even if not unique or novel) [FN4], [FN5].

- The work must be the product of an "author." At base, this means that a
human being, at some point, has created the work, even if at the behest or
for the ownership of a corporate entity, and even if the creative process
uses a machine or device (such as a camera or a computer program) as a tool
in the creative process.

- The work must be "fixed in a tangible medium of expression." To a very
limited extent, there are some works which are not so fixed, such as purely
improvised and unrecorded pieces of music or choreography, extemporaneous
speeches, or live, unrecorded and ephemeral broadcasts. Unfixed works are
protected, but by state common law copyright, and not the federal statute.
All works which are "fixed" are governed exclusively by the federal statute.


The Subject Matter of Copyright

The law goes on to specify, by way of example, the types of works which are
covered: literary works, musical works (including lyrics), 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. This list is nonexhaustive [FN3].

The test for copyrightability is non-subjective. It matters not whether the work
is "good" or "bad" art, or even obscene. Such considerations are not relevant to
copyrightability.

The law also specifies that works of the United States Government are not
subject to copyright protection [FN6]. This is not to say that the United States
may not own copyrights, but only that works created by Government employees are
common property, and so are not copyrightable. However, works created pursuant
to Government grants or using Government funds may be copyrightable, and owned
by those outside the Government who receive the funds, depending on the
regulations of the particular Government agency making the grant. Indeed, if
both parties so agree, the copyright in those works may be transferred to, and
owned by, the Government.