What is the scope of copyright protection?
Copyright law grants creators—known as copyright holders—exclusive control over their work. In Pennsylvania, copyright protection applies to all "original works of authorship" that are fixed in a tangible medium. This includes literary works, musical works, dramatic works, choreographed works, pantomimes, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, and motion pictures and sound recordings. The scope of copyright protection in Pennsylvania is broad. Copyright holders have exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, publically perform, display, create derivatives of, and transmit their work. These exclusive rights allow creators to control how their work is used and who can profit from it. In addition, copyright law also provides "moral rights" to authors. This includes the right of attribution, which gives creators the right to be identified as the authors of their work. It also includes the right of integrity, which allows creators to protect their work from any changes or alterations that could be damaging to their reputation. Although copyright protection grants an extensive list of exclusive rights to creators, it is also important to note that not all works are eligible for copyright protection. In particular, works that lack originality such as ideas, facts, processes, and systems cannot be copyrighted. Additionally, works that have not been properly registered with the copyright office may not be eligible for copyright protection.
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