Copyrights do not protect the underlying idea of the work but rather protect its expression. For example, a written brochure describing a machine, as well as the pictures or of the machine in a brochure, may be copyrighted. The copyright protects the written description text and the pictures. It does not, however, prevent others from writing their own original description or photographs of the machine or from making and using the machine.

Other categories of material not generally eligible for federal copyright protection include:

• Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded);
• Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents;
• Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration of the same; and
• Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources).

When a work is prepared by an employee in the scope of his/her employment, the employer, and not the employee, is considered to be the author.

Even if not an employer, When a work has been specially ordered or commissioned, the entity that ordered/commissioned the work is the author if a written agreement specifies that the work is a "work for hire" and the work is:

• a contribution to a collective work
• a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work
• a translation
• a supplementary work
• a compilation
• an instructional text
• a test
• answer material for a test
• an atlas

In order to secure ownership of a copyright in which a person or entity is not considered the author, the copyright must be transferred from the author.

Merely owning a book, manuscript, painting, or any other copy or phonorecord does not give the possessor the copyright.

Copyright protection starts from the time the work is created in fixed form in that the copyright to the work immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. In other words, except in some cases, neither publication nor registration of the work with the Copyright office is technically required or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. However, registering the copyright before or within three months of publication is necessary for works published in the United States, to actually file suit against an infringer and to collect statutory damages and other remedies.

Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.

Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U.S. origin.

If made before or within 5 years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.

If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.

Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U. S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies.

Copyright in a work created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, extends ordinarily for a term of the author's life plus an additional 70 years after the author's death. In the case of "a joint work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire," the term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death. For works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.

Any part of or all of the copyright owner's exclusive rights may be transferred in writing Transfer of a right on a nonexclusive basis does not require a written agreement. A copyright may also be conveyed by operation of law and may be bequeathed by will or pass as personal property by the applicable laws of intestate succession.

Every case is unique and requires an experienced attorney to address your particular situation. Please do not consider any of the information provided here to replace a personal consultation with an experienced IP lawyer.

Please contact our Long Beach, California Smith & Garg office to see how we can assist you in pursuing your intellectual property law goals.