Copyrightable works of authorship can include:

• literary works, e.g.,
  • books, training manuals, software, print ads;
• musical works, e.g.,
  • ad jingles, songs, soundtracks;
• pictorial and graphic works, e.g.,
  • photos, website content, graphical interfaces; and/or
• audiovisual works, e.g.,
  • movies, videos, television ads.

Copyright protection is generally available for the life of the author plus 70 years for individuals, or the shorter of 95 years from the date of publication or 120 years from creation for corporations or works for hire.

Copyright law only protects fixed and original works of authorship.

Originality requires some amount of creativity from an original author.

A work can be fixed in a number of ways, including being painted on a canvas, written on a piece of paper, stored on a hard drive, or recorded on a tape, video cassette, CD, or DVD.

Copyright protection is not available for de minimis contributions (e.g., words, titles, short phrases, and ornamentation), facts (including research and history), forms (format, layout, and style), color, typeface, photographic subjects, athletic events, scenes a faire (common themes and plots), ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operation, concepts, principles, discoveries, and government works.

Copyright protection is unavailable for useful pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works when the form and function of the article are inextricably intertwined such that the utilitarian aspects of the design are not physically or conceptually separable from the artistic expression.

Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works include two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art, photographs, prints and art reproductions, maps, globes, charts, diagrams, models, and technical drawings, including architectural plans. Such works shall include works of artistic craftsmanship insofar as their form but not their mechanical or utilitarian aspects are concerned; the design of a useful article, as defined in this section, shall be considered a pictorial, graphic, and sculptural work only if, and only to the extent that, such design incorporates pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features that can be identified from, and are capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article. 

An architectural work is the design of a building as embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a building, architectural plans, or drawings. The work includes the overall form as well as the arrangement and composition of spaces and elements in the design, but does not include individual standard features.  The copyright in an architectural work that has been constructed does not include the right to prevent the making, distributing, or public display of pictures, paintings, photographs, or other pictorial representations of the work, if the building in which the work is embodied is located or ordinarily visible from a public place.