ENTR 402: Tech Commercialization Studio

Copyright is a form of legal protection that provides authors of original creative works with limited control over the reproduction and distribution of their work. It gives copyright holders a set of exclusive rights to

• reproduce the work, in whole or in part
• distribute copies of the work
• publicly perform the work
• publicly display the work
• prepare derivative works based on the original, such as translations or adaptations

These rights are subject to exceptions and limitations, such as "fair use," which allows limited uses of works without the permission of the copyright holder.

Copyright protects "original works of authorship." To be copyrightable, a work must be:

• created by the author rather than copied 
• involve some minimal degree of creativity.
• "Fixed in [a] tangible medium," such as on paper, in a computer file, on a DVD, etc.​​​​​

Types of works protected by copyright include:

• literary works
• musical works
• dramatic works
• choreographic works
• pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• sound recordings
• architectural works

What is NOT protected by copyright?

• facts or ideas
• titles, names, short phrases, or slogans
• procedures, methods, systems or processes
• works of the United States government
• works that have passed into the public domain