Are you in a creative industry where you thrive on generating ideas? Are you a freelance writer, software designer, architect, or professional dancer? Whether you are or not, protecting an idea may be important to you at some point, now or in the future.
A copyright allows the creator of an original work to control the copying, distribution, publication, and 
adaption of the original work for a period of time. When we think of books, it is easy to see the value that an author receives from holding a copyright because the author can prevent others from plagiarizing her ideas and can obtain royalties from its distribution. So who can copyright what, and how?
Copyright Eligibility
Your idea must be memorialized in some tangible place and cannot merely exist as an idea in your mind. In other words, write your ideas down. It makes no difference whether you jot them down in a notebook, type them on your laptop, or dictate them into a recorder, etc. The point is that the idea is fixed in a tangible medium.
The idea also must be independently created and must have some minimal level of creativity. This minimal level isn’t too stringent, and the focus is on the way the idea is developed. Although this is a rather low threshold, if the idea is typical, basic or routine, it doesn’t qualify. For example, creating a local telephone book that is alphabetized by last name is a basic idea and the telephone book is not eligible for copyright.
What To Copyright
Many original works are eligible for copyright, but if your work does not fall into one of the defined categories, then you have to seek another method to protect your intangible asset. Those original works entitled to copyright protection include:
- Literary works (books)
- Musical works
- Dramatic works (plays, screen plays)
- Choreography (e.g. ballet)
- Pictures, Graphics and Sculptures
- Movies and Audiovisual works
- Architectural works
How To Copyright
The hard part for some is generating an original work, but the easier part is obtaining a copyright. A lawyer can register your copyright for you and help you enforce your intellectual property right. If you run into a situation where your copyright is being infringed by someone who is copying your idea, or portions of your idea, your registration will accord you significant protection. For instance, registering your copyright provides the potential for even greater statutory money damages against a copyright infringer. In addition, in certain circumstances a court may award you, the copyright holder, extra damages to cover your court costs and your attorney’s fees.
Why Copyright Is Important
Protecting an intangible asset is as important as protecting our tangible assets. Oftentimes, employees add value to their employers by generating ideas. Especially in today’s market, job candidates may pitch ideas in interviews with the hopes of landing a position.
The trouble comes when someone else (a person, potential employer, etc), takes your idea and capitalizes on it. For example, your idea was the foundation and was modified slightly by a potential employer. The copyright question becomes was the original idea copyrighted, and if so, was the copyright infringed? In other words, how much of the idea was taken and does it rise to the level of infringement?
These are complicated questions and there is merit in getting sound advice from an attorney. But the point of copyright is that ideas are valuable and in many cases, worth lots of money. When others take your idea and build upon it, that borrowing denies you, the copyright holder, the fruits of your inventiveness.
©2009 Erin Wright
