1.3 TYPES OF CONTENT COVERED BY COPYRIGHT LAW
Content can be created by anyone. The people who create original Content are typically referred to as “creators,” “authors,” or “writers.”
Virtually any type of creative expression can be found online. This includes text, images, moving pictures, illustrations, photographs, music, and a combination of any of them. This creative expression is sometimes referred to as “work(s),” or “material.” For purposes of this Compliance Guidebook, it will all be referred to as “Content.” The Content that qualifies for protection under Copyright Law can be roughly broken down into four (4) general areas – text, visual works, audiovisual works, and music (both musical compositions and sound recordings).
Text – Literary Works & Computer Programs
“Literary works” are works, other than audiovisual works, expressed in words, numbers, or other verbal or numerical symbols or indicia, regardless of the nature of the physical or digital object in which the text is embodied such as books, periodicals, manuscripts, or computer code and include:
| Printed & Ebooks | Short Stories | Magazine Articles |
| Poems | Dramatic Works | Computer Code & Programs |
| Screenplays | Website HTML & Text | Blogs |
Visual Arts & Images
Visual Arts include any works that can be seen with the human eye and include “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works” that are 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.
| Photographs | Graphics | Illustrations |
| Cartoons | Comic Strips | Patterns & Molds |
| Sculptures & Figurines | Paintings | Prints & Posters |
| Advertisements | Maps & Globes | Drawings |
| Artwork on Records | Weavings & Tapestries | Stained Glass |
| Architectural Designs | Blueprints | Engravings & Etchings |
Audiovisual Works & Motion Pictures
Audiovisual works consist of a series of related images which, when shown in succession, impart an impression of motion, together with accompanying sounds and generally include:
| Films | Television Programs | Webisodes |
| Motion Pictures | Audiovisual Works | Commercial videos |
| Home Videos Video Games | Online, Console, or other Digital Games | Mobile Applications Music Videos |
Music – Compositions & Recordings
Music includes: (1) compositions that consist of the musical notes and lyrics capable of being read in sheet music or in notation form; and(2) sound recordings that are embodied in “phonorecords” which are physical or digital objects in which sounds are fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the sounds can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device such as a CD player, MP4 player, or vinyl record:
| Compositions | Musical Notes & Lyrics | Recordings |
| Records | MP3 & MP4 formats | Sheet Music |
