What is protected by copyright law?

Copyright law recognises and protects different types of copyright based on different creative contributions. In general copyright concerns two kinds of materials; “works” and “subject matter other than works”.

Copyright in works protects the interests of individual creators such as authors, poets, composers, artists and photographers, and copyright in “subject matter other than works” protects the interests of the copyright industries such as the film, recording, broadcasting and publishing industries. The following chart makes this clearer.

Works

Subject matter other than works

The works protected by copyright are: literary works which includes books, reports, essays, song lyrics, instruction manuals, journal and magazine articles, poems, catalogues, tables, compilations, and computer programs. artistic works which includes drawings, paintings, sculptures, cartoons, maps, photographs, plans, graphs, charts, engravings (whether or not the work is of artistic quality) and a work of artistic craftsmanship, such as handicrafts, wood carvings and jewellery. musical works which includes musical scores, and compositions. Song lyrics are protected as literary works. dramatic works which includes choreographies, scripts or scenarios for films, plays, shows, or pantomimes, and any other works intended to be performed.

The “subject matter other than works' protected by copyright are: cinematograph films which include films, videos, documentaries, advertisements, television programs and some computer games and multimedia products comprising moving pictures. sound recordings which includes audio recordings stored on vinyl records, compact discs, audio tapes and similar media. broadcasts which includes radio or television broadcasts, including pay television broadcasts. published editions which is concerned with the protection of the typographical layout of particular publications of works, for example, an edition of a novel.