What copyright protects

For a work to be protected it has to be:

1. Original and/or demonstrate adequate skill, labour and judgement to create the work
2. Written or recorded in a fixed form. This includes both digital and physical formats.
3. One of the following eight categories of work:

• • Literary works - novels, poetry, journal articles, newspapers, letters, tables, manuscripts, song lyrics, computer programs and databases
  • Dramatic works - plays, dance, mime, scripts, screen plays, opera
  • Musical works - musical scores, but the lyrics are regarded as literary works
  • Artistic works - photography, paintings, drawings, sculptures, architecture, graphics, technical drawings/diagrams, map, charts
  • Sound recordings - vinyl records, CDs, recordings of other copyright works e.g. musical and literary
  • Broadcasts - radio and TV broadcasts
  • Films - films and documentaries
  • Typographical arrangements of published editions - layout and actual appearance of text based works 

See the Materials section for more advice on copyright in different types of works.