Copyright Secured Automatically Upon "Creation"

The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright (notice was required under the 1976 Copyright Act, but this requirement was eliminated when the United States adhered to the Berne Convention, effective March 1, 1989). There are, however, certain advantages to registering a copyright. See Copyright Registration.

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is "created" when it exists in some physical form, or "fixed" in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. "Copies" are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm. "Phonorecords" are material objects embodying fixations of sounds (excluding motion picture soundtracks), such as cassette tapes, CDs, or LPs. Thus, for example, a song (the "work") can be fixed in sheet music ("copies") or in phonograph disks ("phonorecords"), or both.

If a work is prepared over a period of time, the part of the work that is fixed on a particular date constitutes the created work as of that date.