What Works Are Not Protected by Copyright?
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Last Updated:
July 19, 2007 11:16 AM
Several categories of material are not eligible for copyright protection, including:
- Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (e.g., choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded; 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;
- Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (e.g., standard calendars, height and weight charts, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources).