Introduction
In the United States, copyright law protects authors who create original work, including creative, expressive, and intellectual works. Copyrighted works include:
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Literary works
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Musical works, including any words or lyrics
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Dramatic works, including any music
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Choreographic works (as long as they have been notated)
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Pictures, graphics, and sculpture
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Movies and other audiovisual pieces
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Sound recordings
The copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce, modify, publicly display, publicly perform, and distribute their original works. If others want to do any of these things, they have to get permission from the copyright owner.
Copyright law does not apply to facts or ideas. Works containing facts and ideas qualify for copyright but the underlining facts or ideas do not.