What types of intellectual property can be copyrighted?
Copyright protects the expression (but not the underlying ideas) in articles and books; pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; motion pictures and other audiovisual works, particularly videotape productions; sound recordings; and computer software. Copyright gives the owner exclusive right to publish or copy the work. While copyright attaches upon creation of the work, legal enforcement of one’s rights is possible only if the copyright is registered in the Copyright Office. This is a much simpler and less expensive process than a patent.
